5 more Omicron cases in Kerala, tally now 29

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala reported five more Omicron cases on Thursday.

With this, the total number of Omicron cases in the state soared to 29.

As many as four people, who have reached Ernakulam, and a native of Kozhikode district have been detected with the virus.

Two persons, aged 28 and 24 who arrived from the United Kingdom, a 35-year-old person who came from Albania and another one from Nigeria were those found infected in Ernakulam, Health Minister Veena George said in a statement here.

The man, who was found infected in Kozhikode, was the one who came to the state from Bengaluru airport.

"With this, the total Omicron cases in Kerala has become 29. Of the total infected, 17 have reached the state from high-risk countries and 10 from low-risk nations. Two persons have contracted the virus through contact," George said.

Those confirmed with the virus infection in Ernakulam reached the state on December 15, 19 and 20.

While the Pathanamthitta native reached from Nigeria on December 14 and was found positive after four days during home quarantine, the man from Bengaluru airport reached Kerala on December 19.

The new variant was confirmed in the examination of their samples conducted at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology here after they turned COVID positive.

All of the infected were under treatment in hospitals and their contact list is being prepared, she added.

Kerala had reported its first Omicron case on December 12 in a UK returnee in Kochi.

India has recorded 236 Omicron cases across 16 states and UTs, according to data released by the Union Health Ministry on Thursday. Of them, 104 have recovered.

Maharashtra recorded the most cases followed by Delhi. With the recent influx of cases, Kerala is in the top five.

Omicron is a new variant of coronavirus considered more contagious than the others and capable of overwhelming defences provided by known vaccines.