Chittoor, February 12: A 54-year-old Andra Pradesh man committed suicide after he believed that he had similar symptoms for those of novel Coronavirus pneumonia. According to a report in the Times of India, K Bala Krishna, a native of Thottambedu village in Chittoor district, had been watching videos related to the deadly virus and started believing that he was infected with it. Coronavirus Death Toll Rises to 1,110 in China, Number of Infected People Reaches 44,600.

Krishna had visited a government hospital in Tirumala on February 5. Doctors told him that he had a viral infection and advised him to wear a mask to avoid spreading it to others. This made him act strangely and on Monday he killed himself. Coronavirus Scare in India: Karnataka Govt Observing 172 People for Wuhan Virus Symptoms.

"My father watched Coronavirus-related videos the whole day on Monday and kept saying he had similar symptoms. He attacked us when we tried to tell him that he did not suffer from the deadly disease," Krishna's son was quoted as saying by Times of India.

The coronavirus outbreak, whose epicentre is China, has created havoc across the world. The 2019-nCoV belongs to the same family of viruses which cause Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

The Coronavirus has killed over 1,100 people in China. More than 44,653 people have been confirmed as infected by the virus. The contagious pathogen spreads through human-to-human contact, and the incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 12, 2020 09:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).