Thiruvananthapuram: Four more cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus were detected from Kerala on Monday, taking the overall tally to 15, the state health department said.
Two cases of the new variant were detected in patients aged 41 and 67. They are the 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. The grandmother was on the teen's 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 passenger. The latter came from the United Kingdom on December 12.
The new virus variant was confirmed during tests conducted at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology here.
The state had detected its first Omicron case on December 12 in Ernakulam district when a person who had returned from the UK tested positive.
(With PTI inputs)
