ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to intensify COVID-19 testing in response to an advisory from the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the new variant “JN.1 Omicron.”
The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) has issued an advisory to provincial health departments, highlighting the WHO’s alert about an increase in respiratory infections. The NCOC advisory noted that neighboring countries have reported cases of the newly-spreading JN-1 variant of COVID-19.
“Serious concerns have been observed as the number of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) cases has been rising in the country over the past few weeks,” it added.
Given the above-mentioned situation, the NCOC urged all provinces/regions to enhance COVID-19 testing to monitor the real-time situation in the country.
On December 19, the WHO declared JN.1 “a variant of interest” due to its “rapidly increasing spread.”
JN.1 Variant Not Reported in Pakistan Yet
A day earlier, Pakistan Health Minister Dr. Nadeem Jan mentioned that a new variant of COVID-19, “JN.1 Omicron,” had been reported in some countries, and Pakistan was closely monitoring developments.
“It is a sub-variant of the Omicron but has not been reported in Pakistan yet. I believe there will be fewer chances that the virus would travel to Pakistan as we are vigilant, but there is a need to be more careful,” he claimed.
“We have increased screening at international borders and testing of the people. Moreover, provincial and district governments have also been directed to increase testing.”
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health issued a report stating that 3,609 COVID-19 tests were conducted during the last week, of which 16 samples were found positive, with no reported fatalities. The positivity rate was 0.44%, and there were no critical patients of Covid-19.
