Omicron cluster found at Kerala private nursing college

Kerala has reported the first Omicron cluster at Pathanamthitta nursing college.

A private nursing college in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, has emerged as an Omicron cluster. It is suspected that the infection outbreak occurred through a person who recently returned from abroad.

Kerala reported as many as 76 Omicron cases on Wednesday. The new cases were found in 11 districts including 1 case each in Wayanad and Ernakulam, 2 cases in Kasaragod, 4 cases in Kozhikode, 5 cases in Kollam, 6 cases each in Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram, 8 cases each in Kannur and Alappuzha, 13 cases in Pathanamthitta, and 15 cases in Thrissur.

The state has reported 421 Omicron cases till now including 290 from low-risk countries, 85 from high-risk countries and 43 infections locally. Moreover, three people from another state were confirmed with Omicron infection, one person from Tamil Nadu was tested positive for Omicron. Among the newly confirmed cases, 7 came from high-risk countries and 59 from low-risk countries, 9 were locally infected - three from Thrissur, two each from Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta.

The total Covid-19 cases were reported to be 12,742 on Wednesday with a test positivity rate of 17.5%. The districts reported the following number of cases - Kasaragod-200, Wayanad-262, Idukki-367, Malappuram-449, Alappuzha-463, Palakkad-495, Kannur -540, Kollar - 559, Pathanamthitta - 601, Kottayam- 941, Thrissur - 989, Kozhikode - 1,164, Ernakulam - 2,214, Thiruvananthapuram - 3,498.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 72,808 samples were tested. Nearly, 1,41,293 people are currently under observation and out of this, 1,38,264 people are under quarantine and 3,029 are hospitalised. The death tally stood at 50,254 including 23 new COVID deaths, and 176 deaths that are newly certified as Covid-19 deaths.

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