An unidentified illness has left more than 300 people in hospital in south-eastern India.

Local officials investigating the mysterious illness say one person has died.

Patients in the city of Eluru, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, reported a range of symptoms over the weekend. They include loss of consciousness, nausea and seizures, according to Joshiroy Dolla, the district surveillance officer of Eluru's West Godavari District.

It comes as India continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic that claimed around 141,000 lives and caused nearly 10million confirmed infections. Andhra Pradesh is one of India's worst affected regions.

However officials have said that Covid-19 is behind the wave of hospitalisations over the weekend.

All patients were said to have tested negative for Covid-19. As of Monday, around 180 had been discharged while the rest were "stable". The person who died was said to have had similar symptoms to the others but then suffered a fatal but unrelated heart attack.

One suspected cause of the illness is contaminated water as all the patients had received water from a common source. Authorities are testing samples.

"The cause is still unknown but still we are doing all kinds of testing, including testing food and milk," said Mr Dolla.

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, visited the patients on Monday.

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