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.
Udupi, May 18: As many as eight fresh coronavirus positive cases have been reported in coastal districts of Udupi and Uttara Kannada.
No fresh positive case was reported in Dakshina Kannada since yesterday.
According to Health and Family Welfare Department, two men aged 38 and 24 years, an 8-year-old boy and a 24-year-old woman tested positive for coronavirus in Udupi district today.
All of them were under quarantine after returning from Maharashtra recently. They were shifted to covid-19 hospital for treatment. With this the number of covid-19 positive cases in Udupi district mounted to 15.
Meanwhile, Uttara Kannada district also received a jolt with four more cases. Yesterday it had reported eight cases.
Kalaburagi, May 16: Former Karnataka Minister Dr Sharanprakash Patil, who was booked for violating COVID-19 imposed lockdown guidelines said on Friday that it was "politically motivated".
"It's politically motivated, the officer who filed the case was forced by MLA or some other people. As elected representatives, we're going in the constituencies, listening to people as they're apprehensive about the return of migrants. We had not conducted any meeting. Wherever we have gone we have followed social distancing," Patil said.
Patil said, "When I had gone there people came to discuss about a local problem and I was talking to an official concerned. In the meantime, some officer gave a complaint that we have violated the lockdown or something."
"They are trying to curb the voice of opposition because there are a lot of lacunae. We hear complaints about quarantine centres that there is no proper facility for food, or stay, or bathrooms," the Congress leader said.
The FIR was registered on Thursday against 23 persons, including the former MLA and 21 local Congress leaders, under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Congress leader Patil and his followers had conducted a meeting at a convention hall in Sulpeth town on May 13, following which sectoral magistrate Muneer Ahmed lodged a complaint.
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