50 percent of the samples in a Covid-19 genomic study conducted in Karachi were confirmed to be of the UK coronavirus variant.
On Wednesday, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said that UK Covid-19 variant was found in 50 percent of positive cases in Karachi. In a video message released on Twitter, Pechuho said that the UK variant “spreads very rapidly” and it had already spread in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab as a result of which “a lot of deaths are occurring and a lot of patients are being affected.”
Read more: Lahore among five Punjab districts declared ‘high risk’ after UK variant virus spreads
“This variant has entered Karachi as well and the UK variant was found in 50 percent of the samples we tested in the genomic studies we did,” she further said by adding that because of that there was need to take “great precautions” against the coronavirus.
Pechuho said that it was the month of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr was coming up so there was “need for great care” while visiting the markets during Sehri and Iftar and for Eid shopping.
“Follow SOPs (standard operating procedures), don’t unnecessarily venture out, avoid crowds, keep washing hands with soap and water, wearing a mask is very important and maintain social distancing.”
She added, “This way you can protect yourself, your family members, your relatives and other people in the community from this disease.”
She also said that vaccination centres would remain open after Iftar and urged people to get themselves vaccinated to protect against Covid-19.
However, according to the previous study, 3,501 positive samples were analyzed and found that the UK, South African and Brazilian variants were responsible for causing 54 percent of the new Covid-19 infections reported from December 2020 to February 2021 in Karachi.
Study also says that the positivity ratio in the months of September to November 2020 was 1.538 percent, which jumped to 7.6 percent in December 2020 to February 2021.
