KARACHI: Health authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Tuesday five people who had returned from the United Kingdom and were found to be suffering from a new variant of the coronavirus had fully recovered without transmitting the virus to local contacts and community.
On December 29, a new variant of COVID-19 was found in the tests of three people after authorities sampled twelve who had returned from the United Kingdom. Two days later, two more patients tested positive with the same variant.
Pakistan is among several nations that closed its borders to Britain last month after the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus there, believed to be more infectious.
“The new Covid-19 variant was found in the UK-returned persons but all five people have tested negative and are now fully recovered,” Aatif Vigio, a spokesperson of the Sindh health department told Arab News, saying health officials took quick action, and identified and screened all local contacts of the UK returnees and found no traces of the new variant.
“We also immediately extended the screening to the community where they resided but found no traces of the more contagious virus among them as well,” the spokesperson added.
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.