By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Experts from the National Institute of Health, Islamabad and Aga Khan University on Tuesday confirmed the China-bound XBB Variant in Pakistan.
However, the health officials in the NIH and Agha Khan confirmed the BF-7 variant that caused the current devastating wave of COVID-19 in China, has not been detected in Pakistan.
The XBB variant
The XBB variant has been detected through the Genome Sequencing in Pakistan. The official said that the situation in Pakistan is under control as no BF-7 variant has been reported so far. On the other hand, former health advisor Dr. Faisal Sultan said that he believes that both variants have reached Pakistan.
Dr. Faisal Mehmood Khan from Karachi University said that he is 100 percent sure that both variants have been reached here. He said that Pakistan does not face any major threat from these two new variants as Pakistanis have much better immunity, therefore, there is absolutely no chance of a situation arising from China in Pakistan.
According to the daily data about Corona cases, in Pakistan on Tuesday, only 15 cases were reported and the positive ratio of the virus was only 40 percent. No death was reported in the last 24 hours and 3,744 tests were conducted to detect the virus. As many as 25 patients suffering from coronavirus in Pakistan are in critical condition and the highest number of positive cases; 5 were reported from Islamabad.
NIH released an official statement saying, “This to clarify that the news circulating about the New COVID Variant is not accurate. The reported variant in some areas is XBB which is old variant of Omicron. Since its appearance, total 29 cases of XBB (Omicron) have been reported from Pakistan. This is not the BF.7 variant which is spread in neighboring country. No case of BF.7 is detected in Pakistan so far.”
