BANGKOK: Thailand reported its first death from the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The health office in the southern province of Songkhla said an 86-year-old woman from Hatyai, Songkhla received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech succumbed to Omicron infection on Jan 12.

The bedridden Alzeheimer's patient believed to have contracted the virus from her grandson, it said.

Additional analyst at a lab showed the woman tested positive for Omicron variant.

Thailand detected its first Omicron case last month and to date the kingdom has reported more than 10,000 Omicron cases.

Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 8,077 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths, the first time daily fatalities dropped to single digits.

To date, Thailand recorded 2,324,485 new cases and 21,925 deaths.

-- BERNAMA