Pakistan Reports Two Suspected Cases of Covid-19

A private News Media reported on Friday that at least two cases of a new variant of Covid-19 have been reported in Sindh, Pakistan. The specific variant is yet to be determined, but officials suspect it to be the JN.1 variant.

These cases were confirmed by the provincial health department in passengers arriving at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. The development occurred shortly after the caretaker federal health minister, Dr Nadeem Jan, informed the Senate that no case of the JN.1 variant had been recorded.

The JN.1 variant, considered a sub-variant of the Omicron lineage, is known for being more transmissible than other circulating variants. Sources indicate that the two male passengers, aged between 50 and 60, arrived in Karachi from Bangkok and Jeddah. Both passengers displayed flu-like symptoms and tested positive for Covid-19 through Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT). Their samples have been sent for analysis to a Dow University of Health Sciences laboratory, with results expected in at least five days.

The new variant is described as “highly contagious,” and health officials expressed concern that the passengers, advised to quarantine, were allowed to leave for their hometowns in Dera Ghazi Khan (Punjab) and Sanghar (Sindh).

The health department official noted that only two percent of all passengers on a flight were being screened for the virus using RAT.