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Bengaluru, July 17: A 60-year-old woman who tested positive for Covid-19 allegedly ended her life in the Covid ward at KC General Hospital in the early hours of Friday.

The woman, the fourth Covid positive patient to end her life since April, was a resident of Mariyappanapalya near Jnanabharathi in West Bengaluru. She was found hanging from a window grille in the passage of the Covid ward around 5 am. She had used her sari to hang herself.

The police said that the woman was admitted to the hospital on July 1. She was responding well to the treatment and was almost cured. Her son was infected first and admitted to the same hospital. As she later tested positive and got admitted, her son was discharged on July 11. The police suspect that the woman may have resorted to the extreme step due to depression.

An investigating officer quoted doctors telling the police that they were about to inform the woman about her discharge date on Friday. Doctors were waiting for the report on her latest test before discharging her.

The woman’s body will be subjected to an autopsy as per the Covid standard procedure. The Malleswaram police have taken up a case of unnatural death. Investigations are on. 

On July 11, a 70-year-old man ended his life in the toilet of the Covid ward in Victoria Hospital, while a suicide was reported in the same ward on June 26. A 60-year-old woman also hanged herself in the toilet. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were also admitted to hospital for Covid-19.

New Delhi, Jul 7: Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao's wife Tabu Gundu Rao informed that four of their employees have tested positive for coronavirus.

"Well sadly our PA, one more Gunman and 2 house staff tested positive. We are all thankfully negative but in isolation and quarantine for 10 to 14 days from today, to check if we develop symptoms as we are primary contacts to them. Hopefully we should get through this," Tabu tweeted.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 23,474 coronavirus cases in Karnataka including 13,255 and 372 deaths.

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Amidst the mounting number of covid-19 cases, Karnataka is witnessing another disturbing trend of increasing number of people ending their life. After the lockdown was relaxed, the state saw a worrying jump in the number of suicides.

According to statistics, as many as 2,211 suicide cases have been registered in just two months. The number of suicides rose by 23% in May to 1,127, and by another 18% in June to 1,084, from an average of 912 suicides in the first three months of the year. 

In April, however, the number nearly halved to 477. But April was also the month during which the lockdown (announced on March 24) was complete, and everyone was at home -- which, experts say, could have prevented people with suicidal tendencies from taking their own lives.

Shockingly, number of teenagers including school children committing suicide also increased in the state in past couple of months.

With the pandemic still accelerating and impacting people in multiple ways, the World Health Organisation has urged people to pay greater attention to mental health and suicide prevention. 

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organisation (WHO), South-East Asia Region, said stigma related to Covid-19 infection may lead to feelings of isolation and depression. Another precipitating factor impacting mental health amidst Covid-19 could be domestic violence, which is reported to have increased globally as several countries imposed lockdowns, she said.

“Hitting lives and livelihoods, the pandemic is causing fear, anxiety, depression and stress among people. Social distancing, isolation and coping with perpetually evolving and changing information about the virus has both triggered and aggravated existing and pre-existing mental health conditions, which need urgent attention,” she said.

Dr H Chandrashekar, professor and head of the department of psychiatry at Victoria Hospital, said reasons for suicide are always multi-factored, combined, cumulative, unresolving and interrelated.

“There is grief everywhere now due to deaths related to Covid-19, and it may have an adverse effect on some. But people should be watchful of their family members, especially those who are in depression and have a history of suicide attempts. One should never ignore signs, like when someone says they feel like ending their life. They should not be left alone, and unconditional support needs to be given. Also, objects that could be used to commit suicide must be kept away from them,” Dr Chandrashekar said.