NCOC reports six more deaths, 348 infections
TLTP
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has warned that a fifth wave of the coronavirus may hit the country by the end of January as new cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant are being reported across the country.
“It is evident now that the omicron variant is spreading across Pakistan while relevant authorities and public remain complacent. This may result in the fifth Covid-19 wave by the end of January,” Dr Qaisar Sajjad, PMA secretary-general, said on Wednesday.
He called on the federal government and provincial authorities to enhance vigilance to curb the surge in infections by enforcing health guidelines at public places like restaurants, parks and shopping malls. He said the government should also expedite the administration of booster shots to the eligible population.
“Omicron isn’t going to be the last variant that has hit Pakistan,” he said. “New variants will keep coming until over eighty percent of the world’s population is fully vaccinated.”
Pakistan has fully vaccinated 68.5 million people till Wednesday and administered a total of 153.5 million doses so far. The country has reported 348 positive coronavirus cases and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 648 people are said to be in critical care across the country.
At least three more patients lost their lives during the past 24 hours due to Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), taking the total number of fatalities to 5,927.
According to provincial health authorities, at least 49 more people contracted the novel coronavirus, taking the tally to 181,334. They added that the total number of recoveries jumped to 174,852 with 34 more patients getting over the infection in a single day.
In Sindh, at least 425 people recovered from Covid-19 during the past 24 hours, taking the recoveries in the province to 467,365.
According to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the surge in the cases also continued as 285 people tested positive for the deadly virus, bringing the tally to 480,211. He added that no deaths were reported from Covid-19 during the period. So far, 7,666 people have succumbed to the fatal disease.
The Omicron strain was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong in November, with the first known case in Pakistan identified this month in a woman who had no travel history outside the country. This week, the National Institute of Health (NIH) announced that a total of 75 omicron cases had so far been confirmed in the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the omicron variant “very high” risk as the number of daily infections surge across the globe. Many countries including Europe have been struggling to find a balance between imposing new anti-virus restrictions and keeping the economies and society open amid a surge in the daily caseload.
