Pakistan's Sindh province suspects presence of Omicron variant, 'genomic confirmation' awaited

The provincial Sindh Health Department in Pakistan and the Aga Khan University Hospital officials on Thursday announced the detection of a 'strongly-suspected' case of Omicron variant of Covid-19 in Karachi through variant testing and now they are waiting for its 'genomic confirmation' at the AKUH and National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, reported local media.

"We have reported a 'strongly suspected case' of Omicron variant of COVID-19 when a 65-year old woman of Karachi with no travel history was found infected with the feared variant," The News International quoted Professor of Molecular Pathology at AKUH Dr Zahra Hasan as saying.

Hasan further said that the officials are now waiting for genomic confirmation, for which whole-genome sequencing is being done at the AKUH and NIH.

Dr Azra Pechuho, Sindh Health Minister, also issued a video statement over the matter. The Minister confirmed that a 'highly suspected' case of Omicron virus was detected in a 65-year old woman resident of Karachi.

Stressing that genomic confirmation was awaited, Pechuho said that it was highly likely that the Omicron variant has made it to Karachi.

It was extremely probable that the patient was infected with the Omicron virus, said Infectious Diseases expert at AKUH Dr Faisal Mehmood.

The expert said that they are currently doing genotyping of all admitted patients with Covid-19, according to The News International.

"As Omicron is new, the lab has set up a workflow to screen for it before undertaking full sequencing," added Mehmood.

( With inputs from ANI )