ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has detected a total 72 coronavirus positive cases over the past week, weekly Covid-19 official data released by the National Institute of Health (NIH) revealed here on Tuesday.
The data consists of the tests conducted from 04-10 September, which said that a total of 8,458 coronavirus tests were carried out across the country during the period, of which, 72 returned positive reflecting a nationwide positivity ratio of 0.85 per cent. Over the period, Pakistan health authorities did not report any death caused by the Covid-19 infection, however, two coronavirus patients are in critical condition and admitted to healthcare facilities.
Since the pandemic erupted in February 2020, Pakistan has reported 1.58 million Covid-19 cases, of which, 30,656 died. As of 26 August 2023, a total of 339,967,103 vaccine doses have been administered in the country.
When contacted, a senior official of the NIH said that the health authorities of Pakistan are closely monitoring the situation as in the previous week, countrywide a total of 95 Covid-19 cases were detected while this week past 72 cases were reported, so there are variations in the numbers but there is no matter of concern. The official said that so far, the government has not taken any decision regarding the start of a mass vaccination drive.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) Director General (DG) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the Covid-19 cases worldwide are on the rise. In a statement on X formerly Twitter, the WHO chief on September 7, 2023, said "We continue to see concerning trends for #COVID19. What worries us the most is the low level of at-risk people who have received a vaccine dose recently. Please don't wait to get an additional dose if it is recommended for you".
New coronavirus variants have raised concern across the world amid a rise in cases in the US and parts of Europe. The BA.2.86 variant, nicknamed “Pirola”, is a newly designated, highly mutating variant of Omicron which triggered the surge in cases. A smaller wave of Covid-19 cases has meanwhile been fuelled by the newest dominant variant EG.5, or “Eris”. Pirola has more than 30 mutations, which according to Scott Roberts, Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist, is “notable”. “When we went from [Omicron variant] XBB.1.5 to [Eris] EG.5, that was maybe one or two mutations,” he was quoted in the Yale Medicine bulletin as saying.
“But these massive shifts, which we also saw from Delta to Omicron, are worrisome.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023