Balochistan reports at least 12 suspected Omicron cases

Balochistan has reported at least 12 suspected cases of Omicron variant, it was reported on Wednesday.

The cases are from Kalat and the samples have been sent to the National Institute of Heart Diseases (NIHD) in Rawalpindi.

Earlier in December, the NIH confirmed Pakistan's first Omicron case, a week after Sindh had announced a suspected case of the new variant in a female patient.

"The NIH has been able to confirm (via whole genome sequencing) that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2," NIH said in a tweet.

"This is the first confirmed case but continued surveillance of suspected samples is in place to identify the trends."

Suspected sample from Karachi is indeed Omicron variant, confirms NIH

Due to the threat of the Omicron variant, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has approved booster jabs for people aged 30 and above. Eligible citizens can get their booster jabs from January 1, the NCOC said.

They will be administered Sinopharm, Sinovac and Pfizer as booster jabs. The doses will be administered free of cost. The NCOC has already approved booster shots of coronavirus vaccines for healthcare workers, immunocompromised people and those aged over 50 years

Pakistan approves booster jabs for people aged 30, above

During the last 24 hours, the country conducted 46,991 tests out of which 310 came out positive. The positivity ratio was recorded at 0.65%, while there are 645 critical cases of the virus.

The country also reported 10 new deaths during the last 24 hours.