Transmission of Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 has started in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and we fear a rise in COVID-19 cases all over the country in the coming two weeks.

Pakistan may experience the fifth wave of COVID-19 in the middle of February 2022 with the number of daily cases rising to 3,000 to 4,000,” an official of the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C)

The National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad has revealed that 75 cases of the Omicron variant have been confirmed in Pakistan, with 33 of them in Karachi, where the first case was recorded on December 13, 2021, and 17 in Islamabad and 13 in Lahore.

“There are seven or eight labs in entire Pakistan with the capacity to detect the mutations in the virus that indicate that it is the Omicron variant. Once these labs have the suspected cases, they refer it to NIH or AKUH Karachi for whole genome sequencing for confirmation. Probably, that’s why we are not seeing a large number of cases of this variant of concern but it is rapidly replacing the Delta variant in Pakistan”, the official warned.

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— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) December 28, 2021