Chandigarh, Apr 2 (IANS): A day after testing positive for coronavirus, Padma Shri and former Hazoori Raagi of the Golden Temple, Nirmal Singh Khalsa, died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Amritsar city of Punjab in wee hours of Thursday.

With this the death toll owing to Covid-19 rose to five in Punjab.

Nirmal Singh, 62, had recently returned from the UK and was undergoing treatment at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar.

He was hospitalised on March 31 with complications of breathlessness and dizziness.

On March 29, tests were carried out in Shri Guru Ramdas Research Institute of Medical Sciences after which he was referred to the Guru Nanak Hospital for advanced diagnosis.

The local police have sealed the nearby residences of Nirmal Singh in Amritsar to contain the spread of the virus.

Nirmal Singh was the first Hazoori Raagi of the Golden Temple to be bestowed with the Padma Shri award in 2009. He had held large religious gatherings in Delhi and some other places after returning from abroad.