An Indian father-of-three took his own life after convincing himself he had contracted coronavirus and would infect his family, it has been reported. K. Bala Krishna – who lives in a small village in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh – was told by doctors he had contracted an unknown virus after falling ill. However, the 50-year-old became convinced he had picked up the coronavirus, now known as Covid-19, after watching videos online. Alarming clips have been widely circulated on Indian social media of Chinese victims collapsing in public or being seemingly forced into government medical facilities against their will. And his anxiety around the outbreak intensified last week when three cases were confirmed in Kerala. Its government declared a "state calamity" as it revealed more than 3,000 citizens had been quarantined after displaying symptoms.

Mr Bala Krishna’s family tried to reason with him, arguing that he had not come into contact with anyone else suffering from the virus. However, he self-quarantined himself and pelted family and friends with stones when they approached. According to reports in the Times of India, he sneaked out of the family home during the early hours of Monday and took his own life. It is thought to be the first death by suicide anywhere in the world linked to the coronavirus outbreak. “My father kept on watching coronavirus-related videos the whole day and went on saying he has similar symptoms and that he was infected with the deadly virus,” the victim’s son told the Times of India. “He told us that he feared the deadly virus could spread and others could get infected as well if they came anywhere close to him.” On Tuesday, it was confirmed that a fourth Indian national had contracted the virus while living in the United Arab Emirates. The three previous cases in Kerala were in students who had returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began.