A trader from the city, who had shortness of breath, died on Sunday after 18 hospitals allegedly refused to admit him.

Although his family was waiting for his test results, the 52-year-old man was exhibiting shortness of breath, one of the symptoms of Covid-19.

The incident occurred hours after the Karnataka government notified that private hospitals wouldn’t be allowed to refuse even patients exhibiting Covid-like symptoms. The government had warned of action under the Disaster Management Act, Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act and Indian Penal Code.

The ailing man was finally admitted to the government-run Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital on Sunday night after he gave his swab sample for testing at a private clinic earlier in the day.

He died shortly after being put on ventilator apparently due to the delay in getting proper treatment. His body was immediately moved to the hospital mortuary pending the test results.

“No one should have such a fate. We went around in an ambulance pleading with hospitals to give us a bed,” the victim’s younger brother Sanjay Ranka told The Telegraph on Tuesday, when the family decided to talk to the media.

“The only reason why we are talking to the media is to ensure no one suffers again,” he said.

“We took him to a private hospital on Saturday evening after he developed shortness of breath. After that we went to 18 hospitals and called 32 others for a bed but failed to admit him,” he said.

He refused to disclose the names of the hospitals his family tried to admit his elder brother. “What is the point in talking about it now. My brother is gone,” an inconsolable Ranka said.

The family’s ordeal came at a time when the Karnataka government has been trying to rope in private hospitals with at least 100 beds. The private hospitals had agreed to set aside more than 2,000 beds for Covid-19 patients.

Dr Alexander Thomas, president of Association of Healthcare Providers of India, termed the incident as “very unfortunate”. “It’s a very unfortunate incident which could have been avoided,” he told this newspaper.

“The government had already decided to go for a single point admission for all hospitals whereby a person calling the dedicated numbers will be directed to the nearest available hospital,” he said.

The chief health officer of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the nodal agency for coronavirus treatment in the city, did not answer to calls seeking his comments on the incident.

Bangalore has witnessed a spike in coronavirus cases since the last few days. The city has reported 2,620 positive cases in four days till Tuesday, taking the active cases to 3,916.