A 82-year-old man died of the H3N2 virus in Karnataka becoming the first victim of the virus, the official said on Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Hire Gowda. According to the District Health Officer of Hassan Dr Shivaswamy DN, Hire Gowda died due to the virus on March 1.

"He was admitted to the hospital on February 24 and died on March 1. His test report, on March 6 confirmed that he was infected with H3N2," Dr Shivaswamy DN said.

He further said that the deceased was suffering from diabetes and hypertension.

"He suffered from fever, cough, sore throat and had symptoms of influenza-like illness. He was admitted to the HIMS on February 24," he added.

The state Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar held a meeting with the officials in view of the sudden spike in H3N2 virus infections on March 6 and appealed to people not to panic over the virus.

The state health and family welfare department had on March 6 issued an advisory for health officials to prevent and control the spread of the infection.

"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.

20 cases of H1N1 were detected from January to March. He said that 26 cases of H3N2, 10 cases of Influenza B 10, and 69 cases of Adeno were detected.

Sudhakar further said that a committee has been formed to cap the price of testing for this new infection.

"We are taking measures to ensure that testing is available at low rates. He said that the fee for the examination will be fixed after the committee receives the report," he added. (ANI)