Karnataka reported its 20thCOVID-19 related death on Monday, as nine new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the state, taking the total number of infections to 512.A 50-year old COVID-19 patient allegedly committed suicide at a hospital here, which the health department has categorised as "death due to non-COVID cause".Confirming the 20th COVID-19 death in the state, Medical Education Minister Sudhakar said the 57-year-old person was a resident of Aland and had tested positive on April 21."The person suffering from breathing problem was admitted to GIMS (Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences) ....with this five COVID related death have happened in Kalaburagi district," he said in a tweet.He was also suffering from severe liver related ailments.Nine new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Karnataka today , taking the total number of positive cases in the state cumulatively 512. It includes 20 deaths and 193 discharges.According to a health bulletin,11 patients have been discharged.It includes five from Mysuru and six from Vijayapura.Regarding the alleged suicide of a COVID patient, sources at the Victoria hospital, where the incident occurred, said he was admitted in the ICU in the sixth floor of Trauma care center.He was dialysed on April 25 and was due for another dialysis on Monday.The patient allegedly jumped from the trauma centre building this morning, police said, adding that further investigations are on."Apparently he was alright the previous night.He had breakfast in the morning today and requested for more.The Doctor and Nurse who were on duty at that time were attending to another critical patient in the ICU," Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute Dean Dr C R Jayantih said in a statement."By the time the second round of breakfast came he slipped out of the ICU, opened the fire exit and took the fatal step by jumping off from the 6th floor staircase and fell on the roof of the patient attenders' waiting area, and he died on the spot at around 8:15am," it said.Victoria Hospital is a government run hospital affiliated with Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute.According to the hospital, the patient had the history of chronic renal failure and Hepatitis C infection.According to Psychiatrists opined this incident could have been due to an impulsive decision by the patient, as he did not have any earlier symptoms of depression.Six out of nine cases newly confirmed positive are contacts of patients already tested positive while one is with Influenza Like Illness (ILI),and the other is with a travel history to Mumbai.Contact tracing of another man from Vijayapura is under process.Among the patients two each are from Vijayapura, Dakshina Kannada, Mandya and Jamakhandi in Bagalkote, while one is from Bengaluru urban.Five patients are men and four are women.Contact tracing has been initiated and is in progress for all the cases, the department said.From across the state most number of infections have been reported in Bengaluru urban with 134 cases, followed by Mysuru 89 and Belagavi 54.Out of total 193 patients discharged the maximum is from Bengaluru,57, 43 from Mysuru, 11 each from Dakshina Kannada and Chikkaballapura.While among the dead five are from Bengaluru urban, five Kalaburagi, two each from Chikkaballapura, Dakshina Kannada and Vijayapura, and one each from Belagavi, Bagalkote, Gadag and Tumakuru.A total of 45,685 samples were tested, out of which 2,721 were tested on Monday alone.So far 43,791 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 2,639 were reported negative on Monday.Meanwhile, ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) Department of Health Research, Government of India has released the list of 15 government and 7 private COVID-19 laboratories in the state.Government ones include- Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Command Hospital (Air Force), Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute, National Institute of Virology, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences in Hubli, and National Institute of Traditional Medicine in Belagavi, among others.Private ones are- Neuberg Anand Reference Laboratory, Sakra World Hospital Lab Services,and Central Diagnostic Lab, among others.
