Islamabad: Pakistan recorded 1,345 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, a three-month high, as officials warned that the highly mutated omicron variant of the virus was spreading at a “great pace.”
Since the strain was first detected last November, WHO data shows it has spread quickly and emerged in at least 128 countries, presenting dilemmas for many nations and people seeking to reboot their economies and lives after nearly two years of COVID-related disruptions.
However, while case numbers have surged to all-time records, the hospitalization and death rates are often lower than at other phases in the pandemic.
Pakistan recorded one death from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, though the positivity rate for virus spread climbed close to three percent after remaining below one percent until last month.
Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, the federal pandemic response body, said in press conference on Wednesday the new highly contagious strain of the virus was spreading mostly in big cities.
On Saturday, the chief minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah said the number of omicron cases in the province had climbed to 328 after 21 more people tested positive between January 6 and 7. Sindh’s capital is Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub.
Out of 24 samples tested in Karachi, at least 21 individuals tested positive for the omicron variant, which meant the prevalence rate of the variant was 87.5 percent, Shah said.
