ISLAMABAD – The National Institute of Health on Monday confirmed the country’s first case of new Covid variant Omicron – days after Sindh announced a suspected case in a patient in the provincial capital.
A tweet shared by the public health institution stated “The NIH has been able to confirm [via whole genome sequencing] that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2.”
It also added that “this is the first confirmed case but continued surveillance of suspected samples is in place to identify the trends”.
The NIH has been able to confirm (via whole genome sequencing) that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2. This is the first confirmed case but continued surveillance of suspected samples is in place to identify the trends.
— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) December 13, 2021
The development comes after provincial authorities in the southern region claimed that the variant had been identified in a private hospital patient.
Officials claimed that the 57-year-old patient, with no travel history, was isolated at home, while efforts are underway to conduct contact tracing to confirm whether there are more infections or not.
Meanwhile, NCOC urged people to vaccinate for protection against the serious effects of existing and new variants. Pakistan also ramped up travel restrictions on several countries in southern Africa in the wake of the discovery of the variant.
The new variant of novel disease which is said to be found in vaccinated individuals was first reported in southern Africa and Hong Kong. It carries a very high risk of infection surges, per the World Health Organization (WHO) report.
Pakistan reports first confirmed case of new coronavirus variant Omicron
On Sunday, WHO said the new variant is more transmissible than the Delta strain and reduces vaccine efficacy but causes less severe symptoms according to early data.
Omicron had reportedly spread to around 63 countries amid faster transmission in South Africa and Britain.
Pakistan imposes ban on entry from 15 countries as omicron fears grow
