New Delhi: Even as concerns about Omicron continue to go unabated, this highly contagious COVID-19 variant has claimed nearly 20 lives so far after rapidly spreading across the globe.
The United Kingdom has so far reported 18 deaths related to the Omicron variant, while the United States and Israel have each succumbed to the viral infection.
Britain is reporting a record number of coronavirus cases earlier this year than the country recorded during the delta wave.
Britain’s Junior Health Minister Gillian Keegan told Sky News on Wednesday that there are 129 people currently in hospital with the Omicron version of the coronavirus, Reuters reported.
Keegan said the government would not hesitate to introduce further COVID-19 restrictions in the country if the data showed it was necessary.
Earlier on Monday, Texas in the United States reported its first death related to the Omicron variant.
County Judge Lena Hidalgo confirmed this in a tweet and urged everyone to “vaccinate and promote.”
“Sad to report the first local death from the Omicron version of COVID-19. A 50-year-old man from the eastern part of Harris County who was not vaccinated. Please – get vaccinated and promote,” she wrote on the micro-blogging platform.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli hospital confirmed the country’s first known death, believed to be caused by the Omicron variant.
According to Soroka Hospital, the man in his sixties was suffering from pre-existing health problems
The hospital in the southern city of Beersheba said a man in his 60s breathed his last two weeks after being admitted to the hospital, the Associated Press reported.
This comes as several countries have taken steps to contain the spread of COVID-19 amid rising cases of the Omicron variant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated omicron as a “kind of concern” and called for stricter restrictions to check the impact of the highly transmissible virus.
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