Pakistan

UK COVID-19 variant detected in two more people in Sindh

  • The new variant was detected in two men both of them in their 20s, who are UK returnees and residents of Karachi.
  • Sindh has reported five cases of the new COVID-19 variant.
Published January 1, 2021

Sindh reported two more cases of the UK COVID-19 variant taking the total number in the province to five.

An official of the Sindh Health Department told DAWN the new variant was detected in two men both of them in their 20s, who are UK returnees and residents of Karachi. The official said that both have no symptoms of the disease and are stable and under home isolation.

On Tuesday, Sindh confirmed the first cases of the UK variant of coronavirus in Karachi among passengers who had returned from Britain. In a statement, the department said that 12 samples of the UK returnees were taken for genotyping, out of which six persons were positive and three showed the new variant of the virus.

The new strain of the coronavirus emerged earlier this month in Britain after which more than 50 countries imposed travel restrictions on Britain. A certain strain of the virus is considered a variant when it has enough mutations to change a minor portion of its genetic code.

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