Sindh reports first case of Indian corona variant

KARACHI/ISLAMBAD: The first case of the Indian coronavirus variant has been

detected in Sindh, Minister for Health Dr Azra Pechuho confirmed on Friday. Speaking to Geo News, she said the South African variant of coronavirus was also rapidly spreading in Karachi. "So far, one case of the Indian COVID-19 variant and seven cases of the South African variant have been detected in the province," she said.

Serological research was carried out on 57 samples revealing that out of the total, the South African and British variants comprised 71% and 20% cases in Karachi, respectively, the health minister said. She said most of the cases had been reported in children below the age of 2 years, adding that parents should get themselves inoculated as soon as possible so that they do not contract the virus from their children.

It may be recalled that the wife of one of the 12 Indian diplomats who recently visited Pakistan had tested positive. All 12 Indian officials, along with their families, have been directed by the government to complete the quarantine period.

Back in April, Dr Pechuho had warned residents that they must take extra precaution in the wake of the UK and the South African and Brazilian coronavirus variants being detected in the province.

In a video message released by the Health and Population Welfare Department of Sindh, Dr Pechuho had said in a genomic study carried out by the Aga Khan University Hospital of 13 samples, 10 were found to have the UK variant, one had the South African variant and one had the Brazilian variant.

Meanwhile, as many as 67 more people lost their battle against the COVID-19 on Thursday. The national tally of active cases was recorded 58,611 with 2,482 more people testing positive and 2,822 recovering in the last 24 hours.

Sixty of the people who died on Thursday were under treatment in hospitals, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Most of these deaths occurred in the Punjab followed by Sindh.

There were 4,132 patients under treatment in critical care in various COVID-19 dedicated healthcare facilities. The national positivity ratio in the last 24 hours was 4.8 percent.

Around 51,625 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday, including 14,529 in Sindh, 20,903 in Punjab, 8,110 in KP, 5,273 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,450 in Balochistan, 490 in GB and 870 in AJK. Around 834,566 people have recovered so far across Pakistan.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 913,784 cases have been detected that also include the perished, recovered and under treatment patients so far. They include 19,060 in AJK, 24,908 in Balochistan, 5,545 in GB, 80,927 in ICT, 131,411 in KP, 337,775 in Punjab and 314,158 in Sindh.