Mumbai: A 52-year-old man, who recently travelled to Nigeria, tested positive for the Covid's fast-spreading Omicron strain after he died of a heart attack at a hospital on the outskirts of Pune.
Asserting that the death was caused by "non-Covid reasons", Maharashtra's public health department said in a bulletin that samples of the man that were sent to the National Institute of Virology have tested positive for the new variant.
"A 52-year-old man with a travel history to Nigeria died of a heart attack on December 28, 2021 at Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's Yashwantrao Chavan Hospital. This patient has had diabetes for the last 13 years. The death of this patient is due to non-covid reasons. Coincidently, today's NIV report reveals that he was infected with the Omicron virus," the bulletin said.
According to the bulletin issued yesterday, 450 cases of the Omicron strain have been recorded in Maharashtra so far. Of the 198 cases reported yesterday, 30 are international travellers. The bulk of these cases have been reported in Mumbai, 190, followed by the municipal areas of Thane (4) and Satara, Nanded, Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad with one each.
Maharashtra is witnessing a surge in Covid cases over the past few days. The state recorded 5,368 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, 37 per cent higher than the day before. The spike in cases has triggered fear of a third wave of Covid in the state that has reported over 66 lakh Covid cases so far - the highest in the country.
Capital Mumbai accounts for most new cases recorded in Maharashtra as it clocked 3,671 new infections - a 46% spike.