The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan reported its first Covid-19 death some 10 months after initially detecting the virus and managing to keep the disease under control by largely sealing off the tourism-dependent country.

In a statement, Bhutan's health ministry said a 34-year-old man with chronic liver disease and renal failure, who tested positive for Covid-19, had died at a hospital in the capital Thimphu.

Bhutan has reported 767 cases of the coronavirus, having conducted a little over 300,000 tests since it detected the first infection in an American tourist last March, Reuters reported.

Taking swift measures, the country of some 750,000 people closed itself to visitors and imposed a mandatory quarantine for everyone returning from abroad.