A day before Red brigade’s ‘harmony rally’, Mangaluru streets turn Saffron

Bengaluru, Mar 29: Escoms have been directed neither to penalise its customers nor go for disconnection if one fails to pay the bill. The relief is applicable till June. However, the entire bill will have to be paid at the end of three months.

The revised power tariff, which was to be announced on April 1, has also been deferred.

A similar three-month relief has been given on rentals for APMC and BBMP shops.

Tirupati, Feb 12: A middle-aged man committed suicide out of fear that he was infected with the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19), which has killed over 1000 in China. The deceased identified as Balakrishna (50) was suffering from hypertension. He killed self, after being discharged from hospital, fearing it would spread to his family.  The incident happened in Chittoor district on Monday but came to light only on Tuesday.

Balakrishna was treated in Tirupati last week and told that he had an infection. After two days in the hospital, he got better and returned to his village in Chittoor district on Sunday. But fearing that he was infected with COVID-19, Balakrishna isolated himself from his family. Before committing suicide, he surfed many videos about Coronavirus and also behaved weirdly with the family members by warning them against coming close to him.

“He remained aloof, saying he was infected with coronavirus and asked his family not to come near him. When they tried to approach him, he got agitated, threw stones at them and then locked himself in a room," district medical and health officer Dr M Penchalaiah said.

He was found hanging from a tree near his mother’s grave on the village outskirts. The tragic incident took place in Seshama Naidu Kandriga in Thottambedu block.

According to reports, he was suffering from cold and fever. He went to Tirupati hospital where doctors gave him medicines for viral infection and advised him to wear mask.  He wrongly thought he had coronavirus. However, doctors told Balakrishna he did not have coronavirus.

His son Balamurali said that his father panicked and started saying he needed to kill himself to keep other safe from him and coronavirus. “He began to pelt stones and things at us to keep us away from him,” Balamurali said.

“My father was all worried that the virus would spread to us. He hanged himself to save us,” Murali said.

Thottambedu police sub-inspector Venkata Subbaiah said no case was registered as the family refused to lodge a complaint. Till now, no Coronavirus case has been reported in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Mangaluru, Apr 18: Three people, including a woman, who were being treated at the city's Wenlock Hospital have been discharged after they recovered from Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

With this, a total of 12 people who had tested positive for the virus until Thursday have been discharged from various hospitals in Dakshina Kannada.

A 39-year-old advocate from Uppinangady tested positive for Covid -19 on Friday, he has been admitted to the Wenlock Hospital and is being treated. With this, only one COVID-19 positive patient is being treated at Wenlock Hospital till Friday evening.