ISLAMABAD – Pakistan confirmed on Thursday its first case of the newomicron Covid variant in an unvaccinated elderly citizen of Karachi,officials said.
Report of *Dawn *quoting sources said a case of a new variant of COVID-19,which is said to be more contagious, was confirmed by health officials of aprivate hospital in the country’s largest metropolis.
The 65-year-old has been discharged from the medical facility and iscurrently quarantined at home, the notification from the District HealthOffice in Karachi’s East district cited.
Initial reports suggest that the woman does not have a travel history whilethe rapid response team was informed for tracing, testing, quarantining,vaccination, and other preventive measures to control the spread as per theguidelines of the country’s top monitoring body on novel disease.
The officials also contacted the woman’s family to take a detailed historyand trace her contacts. Meanwhile, two of the woman’s relatives alsocontracted Covid but do not have the new variant.
The new Covid variant, which was first surfaced in South Africa, has beendetected in more than 38 countries but there are no reported deaths so farfrom the new strain.
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The World Health Organization designates Omicron a “variant of concern.” Ina technical brief released this week, WHO noted that the variant poses a”very high” global risk. The variant was first identified by scientists inSouth Africa and has since been detected in several countries.
Meanwhile, NCOC officials are urging people to get vaccinated againstCovid-19 or get a booster if they’re eligible. Other measures such asmasks, handwashing, physical distancing, and ventilation will still workagainst the Omicron variant.
On Wednesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their vaccine is stilleffective in preventing the infection against Omicron however they warnedthat the new variant is probably not sufficiently neutralized after twodoses.
A booster third dose generated around the same level of antibodies againstOmicron as is seen after a second dose with the initial strain.
