After a breather on New Year’s Day, Kerala reported its highest ever single-day confirmation of Omicron cases on Sunday.

With 45 fresh cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus reported in the state, the tally has gone up to 152.

Earlier, on New Year’s eve, Kerala had reported 44 new cases taking the tally past the 100-mark.

Health Minister Veena George said that four of the new positives were contact cases, including three in Alappuzha district and one in Thrissur.

The district-wise split of the fresh cases: Ernakulam (16), Thiruvananthapuram (9), Thrissur (6), Pathanamthitta (5), Alappuzha and Kozhikode (3 each), Malappuram (2) and Wayanad (1).

Of the new cases, nine persons had come from high-risk countries while 32 others came from nations marked as low-risk.

India records 27,553 new COVID-19 cases, Omicron tally stands at 1,525

In a considerable spike, India on Sunday reported 27,533 fresh COVID-19 cases and 284 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Union health ministry data. The active cases in the country stand at 1,22,801.

In the last 24 hours, there has been an increase of 18,020 cases in the active COVID-19 caseload.

Meanwhile, the national Omicron tally has reached 1,525. Maharashtra had the most Omicron instances, with 460, followed by Delhi (351), Gujarat (136), Tamil Nadu (117), and Kerala (109). Until Sunday, 560 persons who had been infected with the novel coronavirus type had recovered or been discharged.

To prepare for a likely increase in COVID-19 cases, the Centre has recommended all states and union territories begin establishing temporary hospitals and forming special teams to monitor patients in home isolation. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan noted that it is vital to re-emphasize the need of swift and speedy health facility upgrades in all states and UTs.