An unvaccinated man living in Harris County, Texas, is believed to be the first victim having died from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the United States, local media reported Monday.
“Sad to report the first local fatality from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A man in his 50s from the eastern portion of Harris County who was not vaccinated,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted earlier in the day.
The victim had an underlying health condition, she added.
Reports from ABC News and Fox News said this is believed to be the first recorded Omicron-related death in the United States.
Omicron accounts for 73.2 percent of new cases across the country in the week that ended on Dec. 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.
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According to a report, Omicron cases account for 73.2 percent of new US infections over the past week as Texas reports first death linked to the variant.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta strain and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease.
“There is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant,” the UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing in Geneva on Monday.
The warning came as health officials in the United States said that Omicron now accounts for 73.2 percent of new cases over the past week, and as the country’s first known death linked to the variant is reported in the state of Texas.
Meanwhile, Israel has added the US to its “no-fly” list, citing concerns over the spread of the new variant.
