76-year-old K'taka man died due to co-morbidity, tested positive for coronavirus: Centre

The central government on Thursday said that the death of a 76-year-old man from Karnataka is confirmed to be caused due to co-morbidity and was also tested positive for COVID-19.

The man visited Saudi Arabia on January 29 and returned to India a month later on February 29.

"While he was asymptomatic on his return, he developed symptoms of fever and cough a week later and died on Tuesday," the government said in a statement.

The man was a known case of hypertension and asthma. His symptoms got aggravated and he was shifted to a private hospital in Kalaburagi.

In the hospital, the victim was provisionally diagnosed as "mid-zone Viral Pneumonia" and "suspected COVID-19".

"The sample was collected on March 9 by Viral Research Diagnostic Laboratory, GIMS, Kalaburagi to rule out COVID-19 and the sample was dispatched to the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories, BMC & RI, Bengaluru," the statement said.

Without waiting for the test results, the attendees insisted and the patient was discharged against medical advice (DAMA) and the attendees took him to a private hospital in Hyderabad.

"Though Kalaburagi District Health Officer met the patient's relatives and requested them to shift the patient to an isolated ward within GIMS, according to the instructions of the Deputy Commissioner of the district, the relatives did not heed them and moved the patient without the officer's knowledge to Hyderabad," the government statement said.

Later, the man was discharged and he died while he was being brought back on the way to the GIMS in Kalaburagi on March 10.

All the precautionary measures as per protocol such as screening and home quarantine of the contacts have been initiated by the District Health and Family Welfare Department, Karnataka and being monitored continuously, the statement said.