ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s coronavirus figures are rapidly increasing, with the number of new cases recorded on Thursday more than doubling from last week.

Pakistan reported 1,085 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, as its infection positivity rate has risen to 2.32 percent, according to official figures.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees the country’s pandemic response, warned earlier this week that the omicron variant-driven fifth wave was already spreading in the country at a “great pace.”

“There are clear indications that a new wave has started, positivity ratio that was around 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8 in past several weeks, now in a very short span of time there is sharp increase in that,” Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, said in press conference on Wednesday.

He added that the new highly contagious strain of the virus was spreading mostly in big cities.

“If we will see those average figures of past one week, 60 percent COVID-19 cases reported were from Karachi and Lahore, so I urge people living in big cities to get vaccinated.”

The sudden arrival of omicron has brought a surge in coronavirus cases across the globe.

The strain was first detected in southern Africa and Hong Kong in November, with the first known case in Pakistan identified last month in a woman who had no travel history outside the country.