Kerala reports 4 new cases of Omicron variant, country's tally climbs to 73

The total number of Omicron-infected people in Kerala has risen to five after the detection of four more cases on Wednesday, state health minister Veena George said.

The minister said two of the infected are relatives of the first patient, a UK-returned doctor.

"Among the total four cases reported, two are the people who have come into contact with the first positive case which was reported in Kochi," ANI quoted George as saying on Wednesday.

Earlier his wife and mother were tested Covid positive and their samples were sent to the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in the state capital.

Of the remaining two, one was a Thiruvananthapuram native who had returned from the UK and the other was an Ernakulam native who had just come back from Congo.

The minister said the condition of all patients was stable and there was no need to panic and the state government has taken all steps to curb the spread of the new variant.

Struggling with a heavy Covid-19 caseload the state was on high alert after a new variant was detected in the country last month. For more than six months it has been reporting maximum virus cases in the country and death rate, it is on the second spot after Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, Kerala reported 4,006 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday after 65,704 samples were tested with a test positivity rate of 6.09 per cent. It also reported 37 deaths, taking total fatalities to 43,626.

Apart from Kerala, till now, Omicron has been detected in Maharashtra (32), Rajasthan (17), Karnataka (3), Gujarat (4), Telangana (2), West Bengal (1) and Andhra Pradesh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) Delhi (6) and Chandigarh (1). The country's Omicron tally is now at 73.