Karnataka records 6 more Omicron cases, tally now 14

Bengaluru, Dec 18: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Saturday said six more cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in the state.

Of six cases, five have have been detected from COVID clusters that have emerged from two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada district. This takes the state's tally of Omicron cases to fourteen.

"Two cluster outbreaks of COVID have been reported from two educational institutions in Dakshina Kannada today: Cluster 1: 14 cases (of which 4 are Omicron). Cluster 2: 19 cases (1 is Omicron). A traveller from UK has also tested positive for Omicron," Sudhakar tweeted.

The new cases of Omicron have been detected after five cases were reported in the state on Thursday. Earlier, the country's first two Omicron cases-- a South African national who has left the country, and the other a local person, a Doctor with no travel history, were detected in Karnataka on December 2.

Following this, a 34-year-old Bengaluru native who returned to the city following a business trip in South Africa had become the third case on December 12.