ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday said samples of three people who had recently returned from the United Kingdom had confirmed the first cases of a new UK variant of the coronavirus in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday it would extend until January 4 a temporary restriction on inbound travelers from the United Kingdom.
A slew of countries closed their borders to Britain last week over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain that has heightened global panic and caused travel chaos.
Pakistan, India, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Jordan and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus, up to 70% more transmissible, had been identified in the country. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman also closed their borders completely.
Several other nations have suspended travel from Britain including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada — although scientists said the strain may already be circulating in countries with less advanced detection methods than the United Kingdom.
“Samples of 3 UK returnees show a 95% match to the new Corona Virus variant from UK in the first phase of Genotyping,” the health department of the southern Sindh province said in a tweet.
Karachi (29.12.2020): Samples of 3 UK returnees show a 95% match to the new Corona Virus variant from UK in the first phase of Genotyping. #SindhHealth pic.twitter.com/4UUTSMTOQa
— Health and Population Welfare Department, Sindh (@SindhHealthDpt) December 29, 2020
The department said it had sampled 12 people returning from the UK, of which six tested positive and three showed a 95 percent match with the new variant, and would be sent for a second phase of genotyping.
“Meanwhile the contact tracing of these patients is in process and their contacts are being isolated also,” the provincial health department said.
The new UK strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.1.7 lineage, is not the first new variant of the pandemic virus to emerge, but is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the United Kingdom.
Most scientists say the new variant has rapidly become the dominant strain in cases of COVID-19 in parts of southern England, and has been linked to an increase in hospitalization rates, especially in London and in the adjacent county of Kent.
While it was first seen in Britain in September, by the week of Dec. 9 in London, 62% of COVID-19 cases were due to the new variant. That compared to 28% of cases three weeks earlier.