Bengaluru, Dec 26: Karnataka on Tuesday reported 74 fresh cases of Covid-19 and two coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of active cases in the state to 464, a Health bulletin said.

With this, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the state after the recent spike in cases stands at 9.

According to the bulletin issued by the Health department, in the last 24 hours, as many as 44 patients have been discharged and a total of 6,403 tests have been conducted including 4,680 RT-PCR and 1,723 Rapid Antigen tests. Positivity rate stands at 1.15 per cent while case fatality rate stands at 2.70 per cent.

The maximum number of tests were conducted in Bengaluru. Out of the 2,104 tests conducted, 57 have been found positive for the virus, which is the highest as compared to other districts of the state.

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The two deceased were aged 51. One of them was admitted in Dakshina Kannada with symptoms of fever, cough and breathlessness on December 22. He had severe acute respiratory infection and died on December 23. He was not vaccinated. The other patient was admitted in Mysuru with symptoms of cough and breathlessness on December 20 and died on December 25. He also had a severe acute respiratory infection but was vaccinated, the bulletin stated.

As of Tuesday, the total active cases reported in the state stands at 464. Out of these, 423 people are in home isolation while the remaining 41 are hospitalised. Among those hospitalised, 16 have been admitted to ICU and 25 are admitted in the general ward, it added.

Amid a spike in cases and detection of JN.1 infections in the state, the Karnataka government's cabinet sub-committee on coronavirus have advised people to wear masks, not send children with symptoms to schools, adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour like social distancing, seven days home isolation and leave for infected patients.

It has also decided to administer "precautionary vaccine" for the aged and those with comorbidities and to get 30,000 doses of Corbevax vaccine from the Centre for this purpose.

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Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A local court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his mentally challenged wife by repeatedly electrocuting her while she was tied to a cot, lawyers said on Thursday.

Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar (45) for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.

According to the prosecution, he was allegedly frustrated with his wife Satyavati's mental illness and often assaulted her.

Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses to establish the charges against him.

As per court records, on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, Vinod tied her hands and legs to a cot using ropes and then connected an aluminium cable to an electric board to repeatedly administer electric shocks to her.

"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.

The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.

After committing the crime, the accused threw the rope and cable on the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am to create a false alibi.

He later tried to mislead the police and the victim's family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.

However, the victim's brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur district, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.

During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim's body could not have been self-inflicted.

The police also recovered the rope and electric wire used in the crime on the accused's identification, officials said.