ISLAMABAD – The National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the presenceof the highly transmissible new variant of COVID-19 amongst two individualswho had returned from the UK.
This is in follow up to preliminary reports of the existence of B.1.1.7coronavirus variant in three persons. The cases have now been confirmed viawhole-genome sequencing.
Since the emergence of the new coronavirus variant in the UK, which wasreported during December 2020, the Ministry of National Health Services,Regulations & Coordination has required all inbound passengers from the UKto be tested for SARS-CoV-2 on arrival.
It is also of note that the variant virus reported in the UK has also beendetected in 31 other countries so far.
The new SARS-CoV-2 variant ID B.1.1.7, was first discovered in the UnitedKingdom and appears to spread. Researchers believe it may have originatedin a patient who had a long-running infection.
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The new strain is believed to be 70 percent more contagious, but doctorshave said there is no reason yet to believe that it is more lethal or willnot be controlled by a vaccine.
Pakistan, Iran, India, and Saudi Arabia including other countries haveimposed travel bans on the United Kingdom after the British governmentofficially announced the detection of the new strain of the novel virus.
