Coronavirus: Lahore reports the first case of Omicron variant

LAHORE: After Karachi and Islamabad, the provincial capital of Punjab also reported the first confirmed case of Omicron variant, the Punjab health department confirmed.

The Punjab Health Department said that the first Omicron patient in Lahore hails from Bahawalpur and has a travel history from Sindh. It said that the patient is undergoing treatment at home.

The health department said that samples have been taken from 12 people who came in contact with the patient for testing.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre issued the latest coronavirus statistics suggesting that the positivity rate in Pakistan remained 0.69% during the last 24 hours.

As many as 291 new COVID-19 infections were confirmed after 41,869 diagnostic tests were conducted overnight, while three patients succumbed to the virus during the same period.

Pakistan has so far reported two confirmed and over 35 suspected cases of Omicron, apart from the latest cases from Lahore.

The first case of the new COVID-19 strain reported from Islamabad on Saturday was the second confirmed case reported from Pakistant. The first-ever case from Pakistan which was reported from Karachi was confirmed by the Aga Khan University Hospital on December 13.

A second case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus had been reported from Karachi, sources within the Sindh Health Department had said later that week.

Moreover, 32 suspected cases were reported in Balochistan’s Kalat district during a vaccination and diagnostic process, a provincial health department official confirmed.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), however, did not confirm any cases of the strain in Kalat.