Three dozen people in contact with Kerala Omicron patient isolated

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said that 36 people who came in contact with the man who tested positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus, have been isolated.

The man, who flew in from the UK, had reached Nedumbassery airport in Kochi on December 6 and on December 8, he had tested Covid-19 positive.

On Monday the general condition of the man was perfect and he is recovering and has no other problems, according to the health authorities.

"In the context of Omicron, extra caution has to be there to see if there are new clusters forming and if so, in such places, genetic sequencing has to be done," said Vijayan, while chairing a Covid assessment meeting of top officials.

He said the authorities should ensure that vaccination should be speeded up as by now 97 per cent of the above aged population in the state have taken one dose of vaccine, of which 70 per cent have taken the second dose and it has been found out that seven million more have to be given the second dose. Authorities should ensure that this is done at the earliest, he reiterated.

On Monday, 2,434 people turned Covid positive after 50,446 samples were sent for testing, while the state has 36,281 active cases. -IANS