Omicron: India confirms its 1st death

India today confirmed its first death linked to Covid-19 variant Omicron after samples of a 73-year-old man in Rajasthan's Udaipur, who died last week, showed the presence of the variant in his body.

Luv Aggarwal, joint secretary in Indian health ministry while confirming the matter, told reporters in New Delhi "technically it is Omicron-related death (in Udaipur, Rajasthan case). He was an elderly person. The deceased was reported to have comorbidities like diabetes, among other complications."

The deceased, who was detected with Omicron in genome sequencing, had tested negative for the infection twice, died in a Udaipur hospital on December 31, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

He died due to post-Covid pneumonia coupled with comorbidities-diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism, Udaipur Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Dinesh Kharadi had said on December 31.

The man had tested positive for Covid-19 on December 15 and was hospitalised with symptoms including fever, cough and rhinitis.

The rise in cases has been spurred by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus of which India currently has 2,135 cases, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.