According to the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) most recent statistics, at least 49 people nationwide tested positive for Covid-19 during the last 24 hours.
In the last 24 hours, 3,562 tests were conducted in Pakistan, and 49 of those results came back positive. A 1.38 percent Covid positive ratio was noted.
The steady reports of new COVID cases daily may be indicative of a new wave of the coronavirus that Pakistan could soon be afflicted by.
Fears are mounting that the global pandemic, which brought economies to a standstill in 2020, may be returning to Pakistan, as political parties are expected to start campaigning for provincial elections that are due at the end of April. Variants of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, which are expected to be more transmissible and more resistant to the existing vaccines, are suspected to have been contracted by the local population ever since international travel was reopened in 2022.
Earlier, in January 2023, Pakistan confirmed that Omicron’s subvariant XBB was found to be present in Pakistan. COVID-19 Omicron XBB is one of the three dominant strains of the novel coronavirus in China.
The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s federal COVID-19 management task force now subsumed by the NIH, has issued revised guidelines up to April 30. The NIH has recommended that the general public wear masks in crowded, tightly enclosed spaces, including healthcare facilities".
Scientists at Aga Khan University have confirmed to the media that they detected and reported the XBB sub-variant of the Omicron variant to Pakistani authorities. However, they had not yet seen the other two sub-variants, including BF.7, in the country so far.