Pak restricts travel from 6 South African nations, Hong Kong over new COVID-19 variant

Pakistan on Saturday restricted travel from six southern African nations and Hong Kong amid rising concerns over the newly detected variant of COVID-19.

Taking to Twitter, Pakistan Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar on Saturday said , "the emergence of new variant makes it even more urgent to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years and older", Dawn reported.

"Based on the emergence of the new covid variant, notification has been issued to restrict travel from 6 south African countries and Hong Kong. The emergence of new variant makes it even more urgent to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years and older," Umar tweeted.

The new Omicron variant, which has been detected first in South Africa, has escalated tensions across the world as it is considered more dangerous than the delta variant.It has been declared as a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.

WHO identified the new South African strain as one of concern, as it is reported to carry a high number of mutations -- 32 -- which possibly makes it more transmissible and dangerous.

he WHO has dubbed it Omicron, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

Following the reports about the new variant, the United States, the European Union, Canada, Israel, Australia and other countries have restricted travel from several southern African nations over the health concerns.

( With inputs from ANI )