Fresh alerts sounded against Omicron variant as Kerala Covid-19 cases remain high

Even as fresh alerts have been sounded against the new Omicron variant of Coronavirus, Kerala is yet to come out of the initial Covid scare as the state still has around 50,000 active cases, which is much higher than other states. The number of deaths in the state also crossed 39,000, which is the highest after Maharashtra.

Kerala health minister Veena George said that the state stepped up alerts at airports and decided to expedite the vaccination drive further in the wake of the Omicron variant. Quarantine norms for those coming from abroad would be strictly enforced, she said.

Though the lockdown restrictions in Kerala have almost been relaxed and schools and colleges reopened, the state still has a test positivity rate of around 9 per cent.

The number of Covid deaths in Kerala, which had remained low, also went up as the backlog in Covid death reporting was cleared. As a result, the number of Covid deaths in Kerala reached 39,679 by Saturday which is the highest in the country after Maharashtra. The state's Covid-19 death rate stood at 0.76 per cent.

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