On Sunday, Kerala reported its first case of COVID-19 new variant Omicron, informed the health department. The minister said that the patient was a Kerala nativ who recently came from the United Kingdom and landed at Kochi International airport on December 6th. The patient's condition is stable and there was no need to panic as the government was taking all necessary steps to curb the spread of the new variant of the virus, she said.

Though he tested negative for COVID-19 in the test conducted at the airport, he turned positive in the test which was held on the second day after reaching Kerala. His wife and mother-in-law who accompanied him to Kochi have also tested positive for coronavirus. Those who came into contact with the person are also being traced and given an alert. After Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Kerala reported their first infections and Maharashtra and Karnataka also recorded one each of the latest coronavirus variant on Sunday, the total number of Omicron cases in India rose to 38.