Hassan (PTI): A 82-year old man became the first victim of the H3N2 virus in Karnataka, a Health department official said on Friday.

According to the District Health Officer of Hassan, Hire Gowda died due to the virus on March 1.

"It is confirmed that Hire Gowda, son of Halage Gowda, 82 years, died of H3N2 virus on March 1," the DHO told PTI.

He also said Gowda was a diabetic and suffered from hypertension as well.

The Health department official further said the patient was admitted to hospital on Februar 24 and he died on March 1. The sample, sent for test, confirmed he was infected by the virus on March 6.

About five days ago, the state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar held a meeting with the officials in view of the sudden spike in H3N2 virus infections.

According to the Health Minister, the Central government in its guidelines has set a target of 25 tests per week and the department is screening 25 cases of Sari and ILI in Victoria and Vani Vilasa Hospitals to keep track of the variants.

The infection can be seen in children under 15 years of age, and in senior citizens over 65 years of age, he had told reporters after the meeting.

Pregnant women are also more likely to get infected. He said that the spread of the infection can be tackled through measures such as cleanliness, preventing crowding, and hand hygiene.

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Mumbai, Jan 8: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to researcher Rona Wilson and activist Sudhir Dhawale, both arrested in 2018 in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and Kamal Khata took note of their long incarceration, and the fact that the trial is not likely to be completed any time soon.

The accused were languishing in jail since 2018 and even the charges are yet to be framed by the special court, defence lawyers Mihir Desai and Sudeep Pasbola had argued.

The high court on Wednesday said it was not dealing with the merits of the case at this stage.

Wilson and Dhawale were directed to submit a surety of Rs one lakh each, and appear before the special NIA court for the trial hearing.

The bench noted that there are over 300 witnesses in the case, and hence it is not possible for the trial to be concluded in the near future.

The case pertains to provocative speeches allegedly delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggering violence at Koregaon-Bhima in Pune district the next day.

The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by the Maoists.

The National Investigation Agency later took over the probe. Of the 16 persons arrested in the case, many are now out on bail.

Rona Wilson was arrested in June 2018 from his home in Delhi. He was described by the probe agencies as one of the top brass of urban Maoists.

Sudhir Dhawale was one of the first to be arrested, accused of being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).