Health dept officials say the Omicron variant has been detected in district Mansehra
JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has detected its first case of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
In a statement, the health officials said that the first case of the Omicron has been detected in district Mansehra, adding that the patient has been quarantined and the locality where the case detected had also been put under the lockdown.
KP Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra has confirmed the Omicron case in the province in a twitter post.
“Our public health lab has detected the first case of Omicron in Pakhtunkhwa. As expected, this was only a matter of time. Our hospital system has coped with four surges (Waves of Covid-19) and will continue to be ready. Our best defense is to vaccinate as per NCOC guidelines, “he shared.
The Health Minister in the light of the latest situation urged the people to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, adding that hospitals have been equipped with all facilities to cope with the fifth wave of the virus. The health department deputed additional health teams in the area and also made arrangements to increase vaccination in Mansehra, health department officials said.
It is to note here that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has announced the fifth wave of Covid-19 in the country with a number of Omicron cases, the provincial government has extended a public health emergency for three more months.
Moreover, the NCOC has directed all provinces to intensify their vaccination campaign in all districts to prevent the spread of Covid-19 disease and cope with the new variant of Omicron.
The KP health department on Wednesday said that during the last 24 hours, 36 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported across the province, out of which 24 were reported in Peshawar. KP has also reported three deaths from the virus in the same period of time.
According to Covid-19 daily updates the total number of active cases had reached 599 and 175036 patients fully recovered in the province.
In the recent 24 hours, three deaths have been reported in KP making the total deaths toll to 5938.
Daily updates added 9029 tests were conducted making a total of 3879588 Coronavirus tests in the province since the onset of the pandemic.
It further said that 24 cases were reported in Peshawar, two in Mardan, two in Malakand, three in Kohat.
According to data shared by the NCOC, KP has vaccinated only 41 percent of its population against the Covid-19 so far.
