A man from Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district committed suicide after suspecting that he had coronavirus. It is identified that the man's name is Balakrishnayya, 50, who feared that he would have coronavirus and would spread it to his family and other villagers.
Since he showed symptoms of cold, he went to Ruia Hospital at Tirupathi district where the doctors asked him to wear a mask.
Balakrishanayya's son Balamurli said that he misunderstood and got scared after the doctors advised him to wear a mask. Balamurli said, "He wouldn't let any of us come near him. I told him you don't have an infection but he wouldn't listen. Maybe if he got proper counseling, he would have listened. He saw lots of videos (on the internet) about symptoms and concluded that he had all those symptoms." He said that his father locked their family in a room and hanged himself on a tree.
There have been no cases of coronavirus reported in Andhra Pradesh. The deadly coronavirus has spread to more than 20 countries and there have been 3 confirmed cases in Kerala. All 3 patients are students who came from China's Wuhan district which is the epicenter of the outbreak.
The coronavirus which was officially named as "COVID-19" at a conference in Geneva is a large family of viruses that cause several sicknesses, ranging from cold to more critical diseases like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). This is a new virus that has not been previously identified in humans.
The common symptoms of Coronavirus infection include fever, cough and breathing difficulties. Patients can also suffer from pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.