Colin Powell dies from COVID-19 complications

General Colin Powell, a former US secretary of state and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman died of complications from COVID-19 on Monday.

He was 84.

"He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment," read a statement posted to his official Facebook page.

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," it added.

It did not address such matters as what vaccine he received or whether he had received a booster shot, when he fell ill, when he may have been hospitalised and whether he may have had underlying health conditions that contributed to his illness.

Powell served three Republican presidents in senior posts and reached the top of the US military as it was regaining its vigour after the trauma of the Vietnam War.