New Mutated Variant Of Coronavirus Not Found In Pakistan

The newly identified mutated variant of coronavirus is said to be more contagious than the recognized ones, raising a new wave of fear in the world including Pakistan. However, no cases of the mutated variant of the virus have yet come up in Pakistan.

Following the European Union (EU) and several other countries, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday banned the entry of passengers from the United Kingdom (UK) into Pakistan because of the fears over a highly infectious new coronavirus strain in Britain.

Chairman of the Task Force of Prime Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ata ur Rehman, on Wednesday, underlined the need of preparing a vaccine in Pakistan to contain a rising number of COVID-19 cases.

He said,” Our scientists are examining mutation in virus”. In reply to a question about the procurement of the vaccine, he added, “We will import the vaccine to protect people from coronavirus. “

Ministry of National Health Services spokesperson Sajid Shah commenting on the deadly mutated version of the virus said so far, no new case of the new strain has been reported in Pakistan and claimed that the National Institute of Health (NIH) was capable of identifying it from samples, as stated in Dawn.

University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr. Javed Akram said, “The virus initially started changing in South Africa and then reached Australia, Italy and finally completely changed in the UK due to which its transmissibility increased by 70%”.

“Moreover, its vulnerability towards younger people has also risen due to which infection ratio among children up to 10 years and above have also increased,” he further added. “I fear the virus was warming up in 2020 and will play havoc in 2021.”

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Highlighting the new mutated coronavirus spreading worldwide, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Secretary-General Dr. Qaisar Sajjad said, “The new strain’s transmissibility has increased. Earlier it used to fall on the ground at a distance of within three feet which was why it was suggested to keep a distance of six feet”.

“I fear the new strain was traveling up to six feet which was why it was being claimed the second wave was more lethal. Even in Pakistan, I have observed that a number of doctors died within three to four days after contracting the virus. We have lost 154 doctors,” he said.

Two new variants of Covid-19 have been identified as of concern in the UK, both said to be more transmissible than the previously prevailing version. The two variants share some similarities but are not identical.