Islamabad: Chairman Corona Task Force Committee on Science and Technology,Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman has said that a virus similar to new Covid-19 variant,which was discovered in United Kingdom (UK) earlier this week, has beenidentified in Karachi as well.
While exclusively speaking to GNN, the chairman said that research isunderway to examine and observe the structural changes of this new virusstrain.
“We have discovered a virus strain in Karachi, which is similar to the newCovid-19 variant found in UK. We have observed its structural changes andthose are similar to strain identified London and other cities,” he saidadding,”
“We identified this strain by doing a proper genetic sequence atJamil-ur-Rahman Center for Genome Research. We studied 48 samples andobserved that the changes in virus samples are similar to those in UK.”
Dr. Atta also stressed on the need to develop vaccines at the local levelto curb the growing cases of coronavirus in the country.
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“More than 200 companies are currently developing vaccines to deal with thenew virus,” he added.
Referring to the effectiveness of the vaccine, Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman said thatit would take a long time for the vaccine to be authentic.
“Scientists are constantly examining the mutations of virus to see itseffectiveness. Pakistan also needs to promote research-based work so thatour scientists are able to develop vaccines locally,” he added.
