Bengaluru, An Udupi man in coastal Karnataka committed suicide fearing that he contracted Covid-19 but his blood test turned out to be negative, an official said on Sunday.

"He tested negative for coronavirus, the report has confirmed," Udupi District Health Officer Sudhir Chandra Sooda told IANS.

Gopalakrishna Madivala, around 50 years of age and working with the state road transport corporation, feared that he had contracted the virus.

"He wrote a death note that he is suffering from coronavirus and committed suicide," said Sooda.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, when everybody was asleep in his house, Madivala hung himself to a tree in his courtyard.

The KMC Manipal hospital's forensic department confirmed his coronavirus status," Sooda said.

According to the DHO, the deceased man suffered from psychiatric problems.

"I came to know that he had some psychiatric problem. I also enquired with his relatives who live with him, they said he did not have any coronavirus symptoms," added Sooda.

Udupi is 405 km further from Bengaluru on the west coast of Karnataka.