The number of Omicron cases in Sindh reached 328 after 21 more people tested positive for the highly-contagious variant of coronavirus between January 6 and January 7, said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Saturday.
In a statement, he said that out of 24 samples taken, at least 21 individuals tested positive for Omicron.
“Out of the cases, 14 cases belonged to district East, three to central, one to Malir [in Karachi] and three to other parts of the province,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister stated that 21 cases out of 24 testing positive meant the prevalence rate of the variant was 87.5%.
He appealed to people to be careful in any case and must wear masks in markets, offices and public places and use hand sanitisers as well.
“This pandemic can be prevented only by exercising caution,” said CM Murad. Pakistan reported 1,345 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours taking the nation’s positivity rate to 2.89 per cent.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre, one patient died of the virus during the last 24 hours.
Authorities at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Saturday barred Dubai-bound 36 passengers from travelling after they were diagnosed with coronavirus.
The passengers who wanted to travel to UAE from different flights underwent rapid-gen tests at the airport four hours before their flights. They were stopped from travelling after their tests came back positive.
According to sources in Civil Aviation Authority, the infected passengers have now been shifted to different hospitals for quarantine. Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity rate above 2pc for third day in a row
Meanwhile, one death was reported in Pakistan during the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases surged to 1,302,486. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 28,962 on Saturday.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center 1,345 persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
Till now 13,077 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 7,678 in Sindh 5,941 in KP, 967 in Islamabad, 747 in Azad Kashmir, 366 in Balochistan, and 186 in GB.
Furthermore 485,782 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 447,082 in Punjab 181,673 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 109,167 in Islamabad, 34,696 in Azad Kashmir 33,657 in Balochistan and 10,429 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan has so far conducted 23,752,912 coronavirus tests and 46,537 in the last 24 hours. 1,258,332 patients have recovered in the country whereas 629 patients are in critical condition. The Covid-19 positivity ratio was recorded at 2.89 percent.