Pakistan's National Institute of Health (NIH) on Tuesday said that a total of 75 cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant have been confirmed in the country so far.
In a statement, the NIH said that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and the provincial departments were vigilantly keeping an eye on Omicron cases in Pakistan ever since it was designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dawn reported.
"The first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was reported on December 13 in Karachi," Dawn quoted NIH statement.
"As of December 27, a total of 75 Omicron cases have been confirmed; 33 in Karachi, 17 in Islamabad and 13 in Lahore," the statement said, adding that the remaining 12 cases were associated with international travel.
"The relevant authorities have isolated the patients and initiated contact tracing in order to control the spread of the variant," the NIH said.
The new variant of COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 25. As per the WHO, the first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9 this year.
On November 26, the WHO named the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, which has been detected in South Africa, as 'Omicron'. The WHO has classified Omicron as a 'variant of concern'.
( With inputs from ANI )
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