KARACHI – Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho confirmed on Thursday that two cases of ‘B1135,’ a South Africa strain of novel coroanvrius, have been detected in Karachi.
The health minister said that out of 22 cases that were investigated, the UK strain was confirmed in 18 cases, while the B1135 variant was found in two cases.
Blaming the federal government for spread of the new virus strains, he said that the federation did not place the passengers coming from the UK in quarantine despite repeated requests.
She feared that the new variant can spread in the province.
At least 151 people lost their lives due to the third wave of the novel coronavirus infection while 5,480 fresh cases have reported in the last 24 hours, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said Thursday.
According to the latest figures from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the death toll has surged to 17,680 while the number of confirmed cases stands at 815,711.
In the past 24 hours, as many as 3,699 patients have recovered from the deadly virus while the total recoveries stand at 708,193. As of Thursday, the total count of active cases was recorded at 89,838, and the positivity rate recorded at 9.61 percent.
At least 281,385 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 298,818 in Punjab 116,523 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 74,640 in Islamabad, 22,118 in Balochistan, 16,931 in Azad Kashmir, and 5,296 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Moreover, 8,327 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 4,629 in Sindh, 3,238 in KP, 677 in Islamabad, 470 in Azad Kashmir, 233 in Balochistan, and 106 in Gilgit Baltistan.
The health facilities across the country conducted 57,013 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 11,739,02 since the first case was reported.
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