Pakistan has reported its first confirmed case of a new strain of the Covid 19 virus that was first detected in India.
 
Making the announcement on Friday, Pakistan’s National Institute of Health (NIH) said the variant B.1.617.2 was detected through whole-genome sequencing of SARS Cov-2 samples during the first three weeks of this month.

“The sequencing results confirmed [the] detection of seven cases of B.1.351  and one case of B.1.617.2,”  national health services ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah said in a statement.

The B.1.351 variant was first found in South Africa.

This is the first confirmed case of the B.1.617.2 variant in Pakistan, he said.

Contact tracing of all the cases was in progress as per protocol, the statement said, adding the continued detection of global strains highlighted the ongoing need for observation of guidelines, use of masks and need for vaccination, Dawn reported.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that the B.1.617.2 strain had been found in dozens of countries.

The NCOC, on the other hand, allowed walk-in vaccination facility for people aged 30 and above as well as to teachers over 18 from Saturday.

So far five million people across the country had been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Pakistan started its vaccination campaign in February with doses donated by the Chinese government. The drive initially targeted frontline healthcare workers and then inoculation of senior citizens commenced in the second phase.

Pakistan reported 2,482 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally of patients since the outbreak of the pandemic to 913,784. The country’s death toll has climbed to 20,607 after 67 more people succumbed to the deadly virus.

(SAM)