The number of patients confirmed with the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Kerala has reached 37 after eight fresh cases were reported Friday.

While seven of them had reached the state between December 11 and 22, one is a primary contact in Thrissur, where a returnee from Kenya (Dec 17) has tested positive.

The districts of Alappuzha, Ernakulam, and Thrissur reported two cases each on the day while Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam had one case each.

Meanwhile, the first Omicron positive patient aged 39 has been discharged from hospital.

The Health department said a 48-year-old foreigner who reached Thiruvananthapuram from Russia, a Kollam native (40) who reached Ernakulam from Namibia, an Alappuzha native (28) who reached Ernakulam from Qatar were among those who were found infected with the new variant.

Another Alappuzha native (40) who reached Ernakulam from Qatar, a three-year-old girl who reached Ernakulam from the United Kingdom, a 25-year-old Ernakulam native who came from UAE, a Thrissur native (48) from Kenya and another Thrissur native (71) who was in the primary contact list of a patient are among those who were confirmed with the new variant.

"The three-year-old came from the UK along with her parents. Her parents were tested negative on arrival at the airport. They were under home quarantine. The tests were done after the child started showing symptoms," the health department said in a release.

The new variant was confirmed in the examination of their samples conducted at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology here after they turned COVID positive.

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.