LAHORE – A native of Gujrat had experienced what many people may havedreamt of, as he took a flight to Manchester, UK on which he was the onlypassenger to travel.
The financially strapped Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) having thecapacity of 371 passengers apart from crew, flew the flight on Sunday withlone passenger.
The travel to the UK by people has been reduced due to fears of new strainsof COVID. Pakistan has so far confirmed two cases of the UK variant ofcoronavirus, which is believed to be highly transmissible.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed the presence of the highlytransmissible new variant of COVID-19 amongst two individuals who hadreturned 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.
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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.
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.
