A total of eight more people tested positive for Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Kerala on Friday taking the count of cases of the new variant in the state to 37.
"Of the eight omicron cases one each is from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts and two each are from Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts," Health Minister Veena George said.
She said a foreigner who came from Russia to Trivandrum on December 22 is among those who tested positive.
The Health Minister said that the first Omicron case in the state has been discharged.
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.
India has reported 358 cases of the Omicron variant.
On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which was first detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'.
( With inputs from ANI )
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