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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.

Bengaluru,  Apr 30: As many as 30 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka from April 29, 5:00 pm to April 30, 5:00 pm, taking the total number of cases to 565, informed the State Health Department on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,718 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 33,050 in the country.

A total of 630 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, as per the latest data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Bengaluru, Mar 6: PVR Cinemas on Friday launched its five-screen multiplex in here, augmenting its presence in Karnataka across 15 properties to 103 screens and to 46 properties and 286 screens in southern India.

With this opening, PVR consolidates its growth momentum in the current financial year 2019-20, so far opening 83 screens in the year and bringing its portfolio to 841 screens at 176 properties in 71 cities.

"We feel proud to cross the 100 screens milestone in the state of Karnataka at the very beginning of the year," said Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli.

"Southern India has a strong market with significant growth potential. In Bengaluru, we have introduced some of our best formats and offerings owing to the nature of preferences by our customers," he said in a statement.

Pramod Arora, Chief Growth and Strategy Officer at PVR Ltd, said the company will continue to enhance the consumer experience through innovation and set new benchmarks in the Indian multiplex industry.

PVR is the largest and the most premium film exhibition company in India, serving over 100 million patrons annually.