Kerala logs 50 fresh cases of Omicron, takes tally to 280

Omicron cases continued to increase in Kerala with the state on Thursday reporting 50 fresh cases of this new variant of COVID-19, taking the tally to 280, the health department said. A day ago the state had logged 49 cases of Omicron.

Of the 50 patients reported on Thursday, 18 were from Ernakulam, 8 from Thiruvananthapuram, 7 from Pathanamthitta, 5 each from Kottayam and Malappuram, 3 from Kollam and 1 each from Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad, a health department release said.

Besides these, a Coimbatore native, who returned from Egypt, also tested positive for Omicron while he was in Kerala, the release said.

According to the release, 32 of the Omicron infected persons had come from the UAE. The remaining came from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, USA, UK, Italy, Ukraine, Sweden, Singapore and the Maldives.

"With this, Omicron has been confirmed for a total of 280 people in the state. Of them 186 came from low risk countries and 64 from high risk countries. A total of 30 people were infected through contact," the release said.