In the last 24 hours, the novel virus claimed the lives of 55 more people across the country taking the total number of deaths to 10,047. Some 36,390 people were tested for the virus across the country, taking the number of total tests conducted to 6,656,373.
Out of these, 2,155 people tested positive, taking the nationwide tally to 477,240. The break-up is: Sindh 1,100 new cases; Punjab 626; Balochistan 19; and KP 236 cases.
Meanwhile, Islamabad reported 166, Gilgit-Baltistan 2, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 6 new Covid-19 cases. There are 37,080 active cases in the country.
On Tuesday, Pakistan reported its first confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain detected in the United Kingdom.
In a statement, the Sindh health department said that 12 samples of UK returnees were taken for genotyping out of which six were positive and three showed the new variant of the coronavirus virus in the first phase.
Later, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also released a statement, saying that two more patients admitted to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad also showed the new variant.
Meanwhile Pakistanis looking to fly back to the country have not been able to board flights at the Heathrow Airport in London.
According to local media reports, airlines have refused to fly back passengers despite Pakistan government’s directives that their passport-holders and students would be allowed to travel to the country, provided they hold a negative coronavirus test conducted within 72 hours of the travel time.
The passengers, however, are not being allowed to board flights even with a negative Covid-19 test result. They staged a protest over the non-co-operation of the airlines at the Heathrow Airport.
Countries including Pakistan placed travel restrictions and closed their borders to the United Kingdom after a new strain of the coronavirus was detected earlier this month.
The new strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.17 lineage, is not the first variant of Covid-19 pandemic, but it is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the UK.
It has since been detected in some European countries, South Africa, India, Japan and Pakistan.
On December 21, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) placed a temporary restriction on inbound flights from the UK. The government had made it mandatory for people to download the Pass Track App app which records the basic information of passengers arriving in Pakistan before coming to Pakistan.
A couple wearing protective masks walks along a market as the outbreak of coronavirus disease continues in the southern port city of Karachi. (Reuters)
