PM calls to restore pandemic response body as omicron sub-variant detected in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered to restore Pakistan’s central pandemic response body, which was shut down earlier this year, after the country detected omicron sub-variant in incoming travelers a day before.
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) was set up in March 2020 soon after Pakistan reported its first coronavirus case.
The body gathered, processed and analyzed information related to COVID-19 from all provinces before providing policy input to the government to ensure timely measures to prevent the virus spread in the country.
After functioning for two years, the country decided to shut down NCOC this year in March while entrusting its coordination work and other responsibilities to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the rising number of cases caused by a sub-variant of omicron virus,” said a brief statement issued by the PM Office. “He has asked to immediately restore NCOC.”
The statement added Sharif had also demanded a report from NIH officials on the overall coronavirus situation in the country.
Pakistan’s health authorities announced on Monday the first case of omicron sub-variant BA.2.12.1 had been identified among samples of travelers collected at airports.
“We have reported this case to the media and public after this sub-variant was detected in some samples recently collected at our airports,” NIH focal person Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan told Arab News on Monday. “We aren’t recommending any new coronavirus-related restrictions at the moment, but have enhanced our monitoring and screening of all incoming travelers at airports.”
BA.2.12.1 is said to be causing COVID-19 infections across the world since it is believed to be highly contagious, though not more dangerous than the previous coronavirus strains.
It is a spinoff of omicron virus which was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa in November 2021 before spreading across the world within a few months.