4 new Omicron cases in Kerala take state count to 15

Kerala recorded four more Omicron infections on Monday (December 20), taking the total number of persons infected with the variant to 15, Health Minister Veena George’s office said. All four cases are detected from the Trivandrum district. Of these, two have returned from the UK and one is the primary contact of a family who returned from the UK.

One person has returned from Nigeria on December 17 and was tested positive for COVID-19 at the airport after which he was immediately shifted to hospital.

A new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as ‘Omicron’.

The WHO has classified Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’.Dozens of countries have imposed travel restrictions on the southern African nations since the mutation was discovered. India reported the first case of Omicron on December 2. As of now, the country has logged more than a hundred Omicron cases, as per the Union health ministry.

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