A 74-year-old man from Rajasthan’s Udaipur, who died last week, was on Wednesday confirmed as the country’s first Omicron related death.
A man admitted to Udaipur’s Maharana Bhupal hospital on December 15 tested negative for Covid twice, and died on December 31. Doctors in Udaipur said the patient, who was fully vaccinated, had comorbidities.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said Wednesday: “Technically it is an Omicron-related death. He was an elderly person who had diabetes and comorbid conditions. When he was detected as Omicron-positive, his treatment, including those for existing comorbidities, was going on as per protocol.”
Maharana Bhupal hospital superintendent Dr R L Suman said the man had taken both vaccine doses and was first tested for Covid on December 14.
Dinesh Kharadi, Chief Medical and Health Officer, Udaipur, said the patient had been complaining of fever, cough and cold before this test.
Suman said the patient “was diabetic; he had hypothyroidism, he was hypertensive, etc. and had not had Covid earlier”. Kharadi attributed the death to “post-Covid complications”.
Suman said the hospital has seen four Omicron patients so far. The remaining three “are doing fine and are in home isolation”.
The son of the deceased person (the name was stopped on request) told Reporters: “He was not seriously ill and wandered around. They had diabetes. Initially, he had a light cough and fever and he took bullets for treatment.
The septuagenarian had retired as a nursing superintendent on December 31, 2007.