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Udupi, Jun 2: As many as 150 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Udupi district on Tuesday. This is the highest spike in COVID-19 cases in a single day in the district.

According to the district administration, all the 150 persons have travel history from Maharashtra. The number of COVID-19 cases has more than doubled when compared to June 1, when the district recorded 73 cases.

Deputy Commissioner G. Jagadeesha said here that of the 150 persons who tested positive, 120 were male and 30 female. This also included nine children aged less than 10. All these persons had been shifted to the designated hospitals for treatment.

He said that since 2,000 persons were tested in the last two days, 150 persons were found positive. Earlier, about 200 to 300 persons were being tested daily and about 10 to 15 used to be found positive. Nearly 10 % of persons coming from Mumbai/Maharashtra tested positive for COVID-19.

“We have 1,120 beds to treat COVID-19 positive cases in the district. Even after including these 150 persons, we still have 800 beds left. Hence, people need not panic. We will provide treatment for all affected persons,” Mr. Jagadeesha said.

With 150 cases on Tuesday, the total number of persons who have tested positive in the district since March has touched 410. There are 345 active cases.

As many as 63 persons who had recovered had been discharged from hospitals. There was one death due to the disease on May 14. The test reports of nearly 5,400 persons are still awaited.

The district had recorded only three COVID-19 cases from March 29 to May 14. But the number of COVID-19 cases started increasing from May 15.

Benglauru, May 17: A garment company manager jumped to death from his third-floor house on Saturday, four days after having killed his wife and wrapping her body in a blanket. 

Manish Kumar, 42, gave a relative and neighbours frightening moments before committing suicide at AECS Layout, Kudlu Gate, Southeast Bengaluru. The relative had come over after Kumar’s brother called him from Delhi, saying he had stopped responding to phone calls. 

The relative, who lives in Hongasandra, arrived at Kumar’s house around noon. He knocked on the door which was bolted from the inside but didn’t get a response. When he asked the neighbours, they said they didn’t have a clue. The relative and the neighbours decided to break the door open. 

But as they entered the house, they got the shock of their lives. Kumar was slitting his wrist with a blade. He then ran into the bathroom and locked himself in. They followed him and asked him to open the door. But he ignored them. They had to break open the bathroom door, too. By this time, Kumar had slashed his hands, chest and other parts of the body. Waving the blade at them, he asked them to stay away. 

Even the relative and the neighbours pleaded with him to drop the blade, he ran out and jumped off the building. He was taken to a hospital but it was too late. 

A bigger shock awaited them. They felt a foul smell emanating from the house. When they went in, they found the decomposed body of Kumar’s wife, Sandhya, 35, wrapped in a blanket. They called the cops. 

Police found a death note purportedly written by Kumar on May 12. “We suspect he killed her on that day,” said a police officer investigating the case. 

Police said the death note specifies what made Kumar kill his wife and commit suicide. Sandhya suspected him of having an affair since he regularly chatted up some bar dancers he had met in Gurgaon and Delhi. She accessed his phone and saw the calls and the WhatsApp messages he had sent them. The issue rocked their marital life and they often fought over it. He then decided to kill his wife and commit suicide, as per the death note. 

Police said Kumar appeared to have spent the last four days at home, with his wife’s body wrapped in the blanket. “We don’t know whether he tried to dispose of the body or didn’t want to see it,” the officer said. Police couldn’t determine how he killed her and are waiting for the post-mortem report. 

Joshi Srinath Mahadev, DCP (Southeast), said the couple hailed from Bihar. “We are waiting for Sandhya’s relatives to arrive in Bengaluru. A case of murder and suicide has been registered at the Parappana Agrahara police station.” Another officer said the couple had a love marriage.