In a strange incident, people refused to touch and provide medical assistance to a person who collapsed due to heart stroke, scared of getting infected with the deadly COVID-19 virus at the busy rythu bazaar area in Kashmirgadda locality here on Wednesday.
Police sources said that the victim Koppula Venkatesh (55) residing in Kashmirgadda locality came to the rythu bazaar to purchase vegetables for Ugadi festival following the relaxation of curfew from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. After reaching rythu bazaar, he developed severe heart stroke and collapsed and was seeking assistance. But none of the passersby at the busy vegetable market went to his rescue.
All the people who came to the market area were busy making purchases and were scared to even touch the victim fearing that he might have been infected with the dreaded coronavirus. After knowing about the incident, the police rushed to the spot with an ambulance and found him dead and later shifted him to the government headquarters hospital mortuary for autopsy.
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It may be recalled that Karimnagar town is reeling under fear psychosis with 10 Indonesians who roamed in the town testing positive and another person, who was also associated with the Indonesians testing positive for COVID-19. Already, the district administration had sealed off some localities in Mukarampura, Kashmirgadda covering three municipal divisions where the Indonesians had moved about. The authorities are providing essentials to the residents at their doorstep and not allowing them to move out of their localities to avoid the spread of the virus.