ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's central pandemic response body asked the country's provincial authorities on Thursday to increase the pace of their vaccination campaign, reported Radio Pakistan, as the world anticipates an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases after the emergence of a new coronavirus variant.

The omicron virus was first detected in South Africa and is said to be highly transmissible. Media reports indicate it has also been causing severe infection among the young population of the African state.

Pakistan's National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) urged the federating units to hasten their immunization campaign during a meeting held in Islamabad earlier today.

The country's pandemic response body "stressed upon the provinces to speed up the vaccination process amid rising trend of Omicron variant across the globe as vaccination is the only way to prevent the spread of new the COVID variant," Radio Pakistan reported.

It added that the forum "discussed the current status of production and distribution process of oxygen, city-wise COVID-19 vaccination process and agreed upon taking strict measures regarding the obligatory vaccination regime."

Pakistan's planning minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, said earlier this week it was "impossible" to block the omicron coronavirus variant from entering the country only a few days after the government imposed a travel ban on six African countries and Hong Kong.

He mentioned the only protection against the mutated virus was to increase the vaccination rate in Pakistan.