Kerala on Monday recorded four new cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, which took the statewide tally to 15. The southern state has been one of the worst-affected states in India and a major contributor in the country’s daily coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tally.
Two cases of the new variant were detected in patients aged 41 and 67. They are mother and grandmother of a 17-year-old patient in Thiruvananthapuram who came from the UK on December 9 along with his father, mother and sister.
His grandmother was in the contact list. Two other cases of the Omicron variant were detected from Thiruvananthapuram – a 32-year-old man who came from Nigeria on December 17 and a 27-year-old woman who was included in the contact list of a flight passengers. She came from the UK on December 12.
Kerala detected its first Omicron case on December 12 in Ernakulam district when a person who had returned from the UK tested positive.
As cases of highly mutated Omicron variant started increasing in Kerala, the state government asked all districts to ready isolation wards and stock enough oxygen supply. Samples from localities where Covid-19 clusters are being regularly sent for genetic analysis.
Struggling with heavy Covid-19 caseload, Kerala was on high alert after the new variant was detected in the country last month. For more than six months the state has been reporting maximum Covid-19 virus cases in the country and is on the second spot in death rate after Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, India’s Omicron tally reached 170 on Monday after fresh cases were reported in Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi, along with Kerala, in the last 24 hours.
Omicron was first detected in South Africa on November 24 and has since then, spread to nearly 100 countries. The World Health Organization has already categorised it as a ‘variant of concern’.
