Karachi’s coronavirus positivity rate more than doubled within a week, crossing 10 per cent as Pakistan faced a surge in Covid-19 infections during the fifth wave of the pandemic.
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According to data from the Sindh Health Department, Karachi recorded a 4.74 per cent positivity rate on December 31, 2021, when 160 people tested positive for Covid-19.
By January 6, 2022, the number of positive cases reported in the city had increased to 650, pushing the positivity rate to 10.25 per cent.
Hyderabad recorded a positivity rate of 1.24 per cent during the same period, while the rate for the rest of Sindh stood at 0.94 per cent.
Pakistan Reports Over 1,200 New Cases
Pakistan reported 1,293 new Covid-19 infections in the preceding 24 hours, the highest daily tally in more than three months.
It was also the second consecutive day that the country recorded more than 1,000 new cases.
Sindh reported the highest number of infections with 759 cases, followed by Punjab with 376 cases.
Abdul Rasheed Channa, spokesperson for the Sindh chief minister, said the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant in the province had reached 307.
He said the provincial government had also conducted separate testing to determine the spread of the Omicron variant.
According to Channa, 37 samples were tested between January 3 and 5, of which 30 tested positive for Omicron.
“Eighty-one per cent of samples tested in the last two days were positive for Omicron,” he said.
Sindh Considers Further Restrictions
The sharp increase in infections came a day after Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said a lockdown could be considered after assessing the rising number of Omicron cases.
Health authorities continued to monitor the situation as infections increased in Karachi and other parts of the province.
Sindh Plans Door-to-Door Vaccination
Meanwhile, the Sindh government decided to strengthen its Covid-19 vaccination campaign across the province through door-to-door vaccination.
Officials said Lady Health Workers (LHWs) would be engaged to visit households and administer Covid-19 vaccines to eligible people.
The decision followed a series of meetings and consultations between the provincial health department, experts and officials from government institutions involved in supervising the vaccination campaign.
The initiative was aimed at increasing vaccination coverage and reaching people who had not yet received their Covid-19 vaccines.
