Amid warnings from the country’s top COVID-19 body of a fast spread of the virus in the country, the Sindh government Monday said that the prevalence of the Omicron variant has reached up to 50% in the province, especially in Karachi.
According to provincial health authorities, 351 samples of COVID-19 positive cases were analyzed, of which 175 people were found to be infected with the Omicron variant.
At a high-level meeting to discuss the virus spread in the province, the Sindh Health department informed Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah about the worsening situation of the coronavirus pandemic driven by the new variant.
It was also pointed out that out of 175 people, few had travel history predominantly from the UK, Dubai, USA, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Nairobi and Angola.
Presided over by the chief minister, the meeting was attended by Minister Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Adviser Law Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Soomro, acting Chief Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Health Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Dr Bari of Indus Hospital and other concerned officials.
During the meeting, it was pointed out that the number of coronavirus cases has started increasing during the last 30 days — Dec 3, 2021, to Jan 2, 2022. On December 3, 2021, 261 new cases were detected, which kept on showing an upward trend and finally on January 2, 2022, reached 403.
