KARACHI – Two more passengers, who arrived in the port city from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, tested positive for coronavirus this week.
This week, Pakistani authorities started testing two percent of all international travellers arriving in the country at major airports in Pakistan for a new coronavirus variant, JN-1.
On January 5, the Sindh Health Department reported that two international travellers tested positive for the infection at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
The World Health Organization has named JN-1 a variant of concern, indicating that it is being closely monitored, but it has not been added to the high-risk “watchlist” of strains.
“I can confirm both these cases [one from Saudi Arabia and the other from Sharjah],” said Shabbir Ali Babar, Sindh Health Department spokesperson. They had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. “Earlier this week, there were two more cases so this makes it four,” he added.
The two passengers who had tested positive for coronavirus on Friday were allowed to leave for their hometowns in Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab and Sanghar district in Sindh. They were advised to quarantine themselves at their residences, as per local media reports.
Symptoms of JN-1 are thought to be similar to those of other members of the omicron family of COVID-19 variants, typically starting with a sore throat, followed by congestion and a dry cough.
