A 76-year-old man who died in north Karnataka's Kalaburagi district before two days, has tested positive for coronavirus, said Health Minister B Sriramulu. This is the first case of death in India due to coronavirus. The victim had returned from Saudi Arabia to India on February 29 and was screened at Hyderabad airport and he had no symptoms then.

Health Minister Sriramulu tweeted "The 76-year-old man from Kalaburagi who passed away and was a suspected COVID-19 patient has been confirmed for COVID-19. Contact tracing (of family members and others he came in contact with), isolation and other measures, as per protocol, are being carried out,"

The victim had visited a private hospital on March 5 and was admitted with fever and cough. The victim had other health issues such as asthma and hypertension and he was shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad three days later. His samples were sent for testing, and the person's family discharged him even before test results, against medical advice. As the family refused to admit him in the isolation ward at the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences, he was transferred to another hospital where he was treated and discharged. However he died when he was brought back to the hospital in Kalaburagi.