50% of samples in Pakistan’s Sindh show signs of Omicron
PM’s top aide on health admits country facing 5th wave of COVID-19
Islamabad: While admitting an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, Special Assistant to PM (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has confirmed the fifth wave of the coronavirus in the country.
While participating in a morning show on a TV channel Tuesday Dr Sultan said though Pakistan had achieved its target of complete vaccination of 70 million before 2022, it was still facing the daunting challenge of the return of COVID-19, particularly the Omicron variant that was fast spreading.
In Sindh alone, almost 50 per cent of the samples taken for COVID-19 tests showed signs of Omicron (175 Omicron cases out of 351 tests).
Karachi’s Omicron positivity rate has also gone up to 8.9 per cent from 6 per cent a day earlier, he said. Karachi is ahead of the second largest city of the country, Lahore where the Omicron positivity rate was 3.5 per cent.
However, Dr Sultan cautioned Omicron variant was also spreading gradually but consistently in Lahore as well as the rest of the Punjab. The situation could worsen if preventive measures were not taken urgently, he said.
The tally of Omicron cases has risen to 101 in Karachi, data shared by the Sindh health department showed.
The highest number of Omicron cases were reported from the city’s Districts South (39) and East (23).
A further 47 individuals are also suspected to be potential Omicron cases, according to the data. Their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the test report is awaited.
‘New wave started in Karachi’
Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar also hinted about the start of the fifth wave of COVID-19 in the country, which has been initiated from Karachi, and called for taking preventive measures by citizens to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Pakistan on Tuesday reported 630 confirmed cases of COVID-19 after conducting 44,189 tests in the past 24 hours.
According to the nerve centre monitoring the coronavirus situation in the country, National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s COVID-19 situation has remained above 1 per cent for the last four days (since the start of the new year) and on Tuesday it was 1.42 per cent.