Omicron cases rise to 75 across Pakistan: NIH

ISLAMABAD: The nationwide case tally of the Omicron variant of coronavirus has reached 75, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed on Tuesday.

According to the NIH data, Karachi has reported 33 omicron cases, 17 cases were reported in Islamabad, 13 in Lahore and 12 cases of Omicron were detected in people coming from abroad.

The NIH said that authorities are conducting contact tracing to prevent the further spread of omicron variant in the country.

On Dec 13, the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed Pakistan’s first case of Covid-19 Omicron variant in a woman patient from the port city.

In a Twitter statement, the NIH had said it has been able to “confirm (via whole genome sequencing) that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2.”

Read More: LAHORE REPORTS FIRST OMICRON CASE

Yesterday, Lahore reported the first case of new COVID-19 strain, Omicron, Punjab Health Department had confirmed.

According to Punjab Health Secretary Sikandar Baloch, the virus was detected in the 23-year-old man from Lahore. The patient is a resident of Gulberg area.

The health authorities said that the patient has no international travel history.

Moreover, the health department had also sent samples of more than 10 suspected cases of omicron variant to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad.

According to a study, the risk of reinfection with the Omicron coronavirus variant is more than five times higher and it has shown no sign of being milder than Delta.