Harris County in Texas reported its first death related to the Omicron Covid-19 variant, which killed an unvaccinated man on Monday.
ABC News reported that this is the first known death from Omicron in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
According to the state health department, the victim, who was between 50-60 years old, was at higher risk of severe complications from Covid-19 since he was not vaccinated.
Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo tweeted that he was the first death from this variant in the county. “Please – get vaccinated and boosted,” Hidalgo said.
On Monday, the CDC reported that 73 percent of U.S. coronavirus infections were caused by the Omicron variant, based on sequencing data for the week ended December 18.
A British government report revealed earlier in December the first death confirmed to be caused by Omicron. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told Times Radio that 12 people in Britain have died of the variant, and 104 are currently hospitalized.
