The spokesperson for ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party died on Tuesday after being infected with the coronavirus in prison, AP quoted his lawyer as saying.

Nyan Win had been a member of the National League for Democracy's Central Executive Committee as well as a confidante of Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi and top members of her party and government, including Nyan Win, were arrested when the military seized power in February. The military-installed government has since arrested thousands of mostly young people who protested its takeover.

The death of Nyan Win, 79, came as Myanmar is reeling from soaring numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths that are badly straining the country's medical infrastructure, already weakened when many state medical workers went on strike to protest the army's seizure of power.

Charity workers and cemetery staff say hundreds of people in Yangon, the country's biggest city, are dying daily due to suspected cases of Covid-19, particularly from a lack of medical oxygen to help them breathe.