At least four verified cases of the Covid-19 strain, which was initially discovered in India, have been reported in Sindh, according to Parliamentary Secretary for Health Qasim Soomro.
According to Soomro, who spoke to a private news station, the afflicted patients have been confined in Karachi and contact tracing has started. Those sick came in the country from various Gulf nations and tested positive for covid-10 at the airport, according to him.
He said that all of the patients are in good health and are stable.
The legislative secretary said that officials had taken samples from over 50 covid-19patients in Sindh in recent days and discovered that 75% of them tested positive for the South African varient. The others were strains from the United Kingdom, Brazil, and other countries.
Pakistan’s first verified case of the Indian covid-19 strain was reported on May 28.
During the first three weeks of May 2021, the National Institute of Health found the extremely contagious variation that has swept the neighboring nation by conducting whole-genome sequencing of SARS CoV-2 samples.
“The sequencing results confirmed [the] detection of seven cases of B.1.351 (South African variant) and one case of B.1.617.2 (Indian variant),” the NIH said.
Meanwhile, the Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division and the Islamabad district health officer are doing contact tracing for all of the patients, according to the Health Ministry.
Pakistan recorded the lowest covid-19 ratio in three months, at 4.05 percent, after 2,117 new cases were registered across the country in the previous 24 hours.
On March 5, the nation had a COVID-19 positive rate of 4.04 percent the previous time. Pakistan’s positivity ratio has now dropped below 5% for the eighth day in a row.
According to official statistics from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 52,223 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, with 2,117 of them returning positive, bringing the overall caseload to 921,053.
In the last 24 hours, at least 43 individuals have died as a result of the covid-19, bringing the overall death toll to 20,779 across the nation.
There are now 56,347 active cases, with 607,205 individuals having recovered from the virus so far.
The pandemic’s third wave is gradually dying down as vaccination programs take place around the country.
