Five more persons were tested positive for Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Kerala on Thursday, taking the total number to 29. Among those tested positive on Thursday included a person who came from Bengaluru to Kozhikode.
Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that among the 29 found infected so far, 17 persons came from high-risk countries and 10 from low-risk countries. Two got infected through contacts. 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, she said in a statement.
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. 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.
The total active Covid cases in the state is now 26,605.
(With inputs from PTI)
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