Sixteen fresh coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of those affected in the state to 144, the Health department said on Saturday.
Till this evening, 144 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes four deaths and 11 discharges, the department said in a bulletin.
A 75-year old man, a resident of Bagalkote, who was confirmed positive on Friday and was undergoing treatment at a designated hospital in the district, expired last night.
Education Minister Suresh Kumar, briefing reporters about the bulletin, said the man initially consulted an ayurveda doctor, then gone to a private hospital.
He later went to another hospital and was there for four days. However doctors there suspected his conditions to be that of coronavirus and sent him to the designated hospital, where he was for one day before he died, the minister said.
The man had cardiac stent,high diabetes and hypertension, the Minister said and appealed to doctors and hospitals to refer patients to government hospitals as soon as they detect symptoms.
Among 16 newly infected- two had attended Tablighi Jamaat congregation from March 13 to 18 at Delhi, while seven are from Mysuru (four of whom had a travel history to Delhi in January, much before the congregation).
Though the Minister did not give exact number of people from Karnataka who had attended the congregation, he said, as of date, reports of 214 of the 380 samples collected had been received