Karachi detects six cases of new Covid-19 variant

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department on Tuesday confirmed the presence of XBB and XBB-1 sub-variants of the Omicron variant in Karachi, ARY News reported.

Karachi has detected six cases of the new Covid-19 variant, XBB and XBB-1, the health department said in a statement.

However, they confirmed that the South Asian country was still safe from the highly infectious variant – BF.

According to reports, China is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases due to a strain that is a sub-variant of the highly infectious Omicron variant: BF.7 or BA.5.2.1.7.

Earlier today, the National Institute of Health (NIH) denied all reports regarding the presence of new variants of Covid-19 in Pakistan.

“No cases of a new variant of Covid-19 have been reported in Pakistan,” the NIH official said while adding that all “arrangements have been completed to combat the new variant” should a case emerge.

Covid cases

Pakistan has reported no death in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of confirmed positive cases surged to 1,575,833. The nationwide tally of fatalities stood at 30,636.

According to the latest figures issued by the National Institute of Health (NIH), at least 15 people were tested positive for Covid across the country in the past 24 hours.