Kerala reports first Omicron case, UK returnee tests positive

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported its first Omicron case on Sunday after a UK returnee tested positive for the new variant of coronavirus, considered more contagious than others.
With this, the number of Omicron cases in India rose to 38.
The UK returnee, a 39-year-old native of Ernakulam, tested positive for the new variant on Sunday, Health Minister Veena George informed.
He had arrived in Kochi with this wife on December 6 from the UK after making a stopover in Abu Dhabi.
Initially, he and his wife had tested negative for COVID-19, but on the next day he showed signs of illness, another test was conducted and he was found positive, a statement from the Health Department read.
Thereafter, his sample was sent for genetic testing and Omicron was confirmed, the statement read.
His wife and mother have also tested positive for coronavirus. They have been isolated, George added.
The minister informed that the health condition of the three is satisfactory.
Of the 149 passengers on the Etihad flight, those in the 26th to the 32nd rows have been included in the high-risk category and they have to undergo COVID tests on Monday.
The statement further said that the Health Department has taken all possible steps, like preparing the contact list, and all procedures have been followed as per the guidelines of the central government.
The minister, in the release, has said that extreme caution should be exercised since Omicron has been reported in the state.
She said that the government was working to detect the virus in the early stages, ensure expert treatment for those infected and thereby, prevent the spread of the disease.
Those who are coming from abroad and test positive for COVID-19 are transferred to special wards in hospitals and those who are negative, but have come from high-risk countries, are transferred to home quarantine.
For those not falling in either category have been asked to carry out self-observation, the minister said and added that samples of RT-PCR positive people from high-risk countries were being sent for Omicron genetic testing
It is imperative to wear a mask properly, take two doses of the vaccine, maintain physical distance, wash your hands frequently, and ensure as much ventilation as possible in your room, the release said.
The news emerges during a time when Kerala had been making headways in curbing the coronavirus threat.
On Sunday, the state reported 3,777 new COVID cases after 57,121 tests. 3,856 recoveries were also reported.
In all, there are 38,361 active coronavirus cases in Kerala.
Omicron cases in India
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh reported their first case of Omicron on Sunday, while Maharastra and Karanataka also recorded one more case each of the COVID-19 variant.
According to state health officials, a 20-year-old fully vaccinated man who arrived in Chandigarh from Italy to meet his relatives and a 34-year old foreign traveller, who came from Ireland to Mumbai and then to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, have tested positive for the variant.
A man who arrived from South Africa became the third person to test positive for the COVID-19 variant in Karnataka, while a 40-year-old man tested positive after returning to Nagpur in Maharashtra from a West African country, taking the state's tally of Omicron cases to 18.
The man in Chandigarh had landed in India on November 22 and is currently in institutional quarantine.
The Omicron variant was first detected in India in Bengaluru with two people testing positive for it comprising a South African national of Indian origin and a doctor.
Till now, Omicron has been detected in Maharashtra (18), Rajasthan (9), Karnataka (3), Karnataka (3) and Andhra Pradesh (1) and in Union Territories of Delhi (2), Chandigarh (1) and Kerala (1).