On Tuesday, Pakistan has confirmed its first cases of the new Covid-19 variation as of recently detected in people who came back from the United Kingdom (UK).
The Sindh health department, in a tweet, said samples of 12 UK returnees were taken for genotyping, out of which six tested positive, whereas three showed a 95 percent match with the new variant, and will be sent for the second phase of genotyping.
“Meanwhile the contact tracing of these patients is in process and their contacts are being isolated also,” the provincial health department maintained.
Karachi (29.12.2020): Samples of 3 UK returnees show a 95% match to the new Corona Virus variant from UK in the first phase of Genotyping. #SindhHealth pic.twitter.com/4UUTSMTOQa
— Health and Population Welfare Department, Sindh (@SindhHealthDpt) December 29, 2020
Following the European Union (EU) and a few different nations, Pakistan, on December 21, restricted the passage of travelers from the UK into Pakistan considering the feelings of dread over a profoundly irresistible new Covid strain in Britain.
We’re in close contact with UK 🇬🇧 officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant. They’ll continue to share info & results of their analysis & ongoing studies. We’ll update Member States & public as we learn more about the characteristics of this virus variant & any implications.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 19, 2020
A huge number of nations shut their borders to Britain around the same time, suspending travel for Britons, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variation of the infection, up to 70% more transmissible, had been identified in the country.
The decision to prohibit travel from the UK was taken by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on a day when the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) dropped all flights to and from Saudi Arabia after the Saudi authorities suspended all worldwide flights for seven days.
On December 25, the Ministry of Health Services explained that the new variation of Covid surfaced in the UK was at this point to be detected in Pakistan.
The ministry said that the situation in Pakistan was being closely monitored as all the passengers arriving from the UK were being screened.
Read More: How to Protect Yourself From Second Wave of Covid-19?
