Omicron in Pakistan: Asad Umar says 'clear evidence' another Covid wave beginning

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar warned on Sunday that clear evidence now suggests the beginning of another coronavirus wave, adding that the outbreak had been expected for the last few weeks.

In a tweet, Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said that "Genome sequencing shows a rising proportion of Omicron cases particularly in Karachi."

"Remember: wearing a mask is your best protection," he urged.

On Friday, Karachi confirmed 11 more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Reports suggest 11 members of a single-family were found to be infected with the new strain.

Karachi reports 11 more Omicron variant cases

The affected people, residents of the city’s District East, include eight women and three men whose ages range from 26 to 77. The number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the metropolis has risen to 44 with the addition of the new cases.

On Dec 28, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said so far 75 cases of the Omicron variant have been reported in Pakistan. 33 of the cases were reported in Karachi, 17 in Islamabad, and 13 in Lahore.

The NIH said that authorities were conducting contact tracing to prevent the further spread of Omicron variant in the country.

15-day smart lockdown imposed in areas of Karachi District East

The local government also imposed a 15-day micro-smart lockdown in Karachi’s District East on Saturday after the emergence of at least 12 cases of Omicron variant in the area.

According to a notification issued by the deputy commissioner’s office, the lockdown was imposed in Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 7 area and other hotspots on the report of the district health officers.

“In exercise of powers conferred under Section 3 of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act 2014 (as amended in 2020), I, Taha Saleem, Deputy Commissioner District Karachi East hereby impose smart lockdown and micro-smart lockdown, which shall be enforced in the streets and houses of specified area respectively as given below, for a definite period of two weeks only,” the notification read.

After the imposition of the smart lockdown, there will be a ban on all sorts of public gatherings in the area, the notification said, adding that the government will strictly enforce the implementation of the SOPs.

Recently, with the threat of the new Omicron variant looming over Pakistan, the NCOC decided to allow booster jabs for healthcare workers, immunocompromised people and those aged over 50 years. It later approved booster jabs for people aged 30 and above.

Earlier, the government said that it has achieved its goal of fully vaccinating 70 million people against the coronavirus in 2021. Umar announced the development, saying that he is "grateful for the tireless work of the NCOC team, the federal and provincial administrations, and the health teams".

"The hard work of all these people achieved a goal that people thought was impossible," he said.

"To make this massive vaccination drive possible, the Federal Government has procured vaccines worth nearly Rs 250 billion," he added.

Pakistan has been inoculating the citizens with CanSino, Sinopharm, SinoVac, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. In the first phase, the country administered the Covid-19 vaccine to health workers and later expanded the drive to other segments of the population.

Pakistan also decided that immunocompromised individuals between 12 and 17 years of age will also be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.

Omicron spreading and infecting the vaccinated: WHO

Last month, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was spreading faster than the Delta variant and was causing infections in people already vaccinated or who had recovered from the Covid-19 disease.

"There is no consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing for Geneva-based journalists, held at its new headquarters building.

"And it is more likely people vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 could be infected or re-infected," Tedros said.

Omicron appears to be better at evading antibodies generated by some COVID-19 vaccines but there are other forms of immunity that may prevent infection and disease, WHO officials said.