73-Year-Old Rajasthan Man Who Died Of COVID Is The First Case Of Omicron-Related Death In India

The Union health ministry on Wednesday said that a COVID-19 patient from Udaipur, Rajasthan was the first case of death linked to the Omicron variant in India.

The 73-year-old man, who was found infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus in genome sequencing. He died due to post-Covid pneumonia coupled with comorbidities -- diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypothyroidism -- Udaipur Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Dinesh Kharadi had said.

PTI

The man was found Covid positive on December 15 and had symptoms like fever, cough and rhinitis and therefore, was admitted to the hospital.

A sample was sent for genome sequencing and the results were received on December 25, in which he was found infected with the Omicron variant of the virus. The man had tested negative for COVID-19 twice on December 21 and 25.

Earlier the death of a 52-year-old man from Maharashtra, with a travel history to Nigeria, who had died from a heart attack on December 28, was reported as the first possible case of Omicron-related in India.

BCCL

He was found infected with the Omicron variant, only after his death.

But his death had nothing to do with the infection, a health bulletin had said, stressing that he had diabetes for 13 years.

The Health Ministry also said that 108 Omicron-related deaths have been reported globally so far.

India has so far recorded 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus from across 24 states and UTs, out of which 828 have recovered or migrated. Maharashtra continues to record the maximum - 653 cases, followed by Delhi at 464, Kerala 185, Rajasthan 174, Gujarat 154 and Tamil Nadu 121 cases.

The actual numbers, however, are likely to be much higher as only a small portion of the positive samples are sent for genome sequencing.

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"Omicron is the predominant circulating strain in cities in the country. Mass gatherings should be avoided to lower the speed of this spread," Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava said.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that around 84% of the new COVID-19 infection in the national capital are Omicrion variant.

"Genome sequencing is not possible as the number of Omicron cases are rising. Even the ICMR has stated that there is no logic to do genome sequencing now. We are doing simple sequencing. in that, some are Delta and some are Omicron, Daily 300-400 cases of Omicron can come," Jain said on Wednesday.

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