UK’s new Covid variant detected in Pakistan

Ag Agencies

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The new coronavirus strain sweeping the United Kingdom has been detected in Pakistan, the Sindh health department announced, after test samples of people who travelled from Britain suggested a “95 per cent match” with the highly infections variant.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the Sindh Health and Population Welfare Department said 12 Covid-19 samples of United Kingdom returnees were taken for genotyping out of which six tested positive and three showed the new variant of the Covid-19 in the first phase.

“The genotyping showed 95 per cent match of the new variant from the UK,” it said. The samples will go through another phase of genotyping, the health department added. Contact tracing of those patients was under way and their contacts were being isolated as well, it said.

Sindh Health Department spokeswoman Meeran Yousuf told Geo News that the cases were identified in Karachi. On Twitter, when the spokeswoman tweeted the news, and was asked by a user how were people returning from UK testing positive for the virus and whether they were tested prior to boarding the flight. Yousaf responded by saying: “The virus incubation takes between three to 14 days. So at times people are exposed after their test or during travel. A lot of times if the viral load is low, PCR doesn’t pick it up so it can show negative in the PCR test.”

The new strain was discovered in the UK in mid-December, and an analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week found that around half of all new coronavirus cases in England could be the new variant.

The British government instituted Tier 4 restrictions in many parts of England to control the mutant strain. The mutant variant led to a spate of travel restrictions on travellers from the UK, with Pakistan among the countries to impose curbs. The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority on Monday extended travel restrictions for inbound travel until January 4.

The development came as active Covid-19 cases in Pakistan reached 39,599 after 1,776 more people tested positive, while 63 people, 54 of whom were under treatment in hospital, died, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

At least 2,756 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country, 305 of who were on ventilators. Multan continued to lead the country in the occupancy of ventilators at 49 per cent, followed by Islamabad 40 per cent, Peshawar 32 per cent and Lahore 32 per cent.

Peshawar, meanwhile, was leading in oxygen beds occupancy at 64 per cent, followed by Multan 40 percent, Islamabad 33 per cent and Rawalpindi 31 percent.

On the vaccine front, the NCOC reviewed the national vaccine strategy and efforts made to ensure early availability of the vaccine in a meeting. The forum was briefed about negotiations with international vaccine manufacturers “in

order to get in time availability of the Covid vaccine”, it said in a press statement.

The forum was also briefed about vaccine administration and immunisation plan and training of staff. The forum noted that the training of the staff should be spearheaded for positive and effective outcomes of the immunisation programme.