Pakistan confirms 594 new COVID-19 cases amid spread of Omicron

ISLAMABAD: JAN. 2 – Pakistan on Saturday confirmed 594 new COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Sunday.

Asad Umar, chairman of the NCOC which leads the nation’s campaign against COVID-19, said on Twitter on Sunday that there is “clear evidence now of a beginning of another COVID wave which has been expected for last few weeks.”

Umar said that genome sequencing shows a rising proportion of Omicron cases particularly in the southern port city of Karachi, and stressed the need to take precautionary measures for protection against the pandemic.

The NCOC said the country had confirmed overall 1,296,527 cases so far, including 1,257,024 recoveries.

The country has more than 10,000 active cases including 637 those who are in critical condition.

According to the NCOC data, the pandemic killed eight people on Saturday, increasing the overall death toll to 28,941.

Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is the most affected region of the country in terms of the number of cases with 482,411 infections followed by the eastern Punjab province which has reported 445,228 cases so far.

-Xinhua