ISLAMABAD: The Covid-19 positivity ratio in Karachi has exceeded 10 per cent — the highest in the country — as infections caused by the Omicron variant of the virus continue to mount.

“In the last 24 hours, positivity ratio of #COVID19 cases in Karachi has surged to 10.25% while in the entire province of #Sindh it has risen to 4.29%,” Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui, adviser to Sindh’s chief minister on law, said in a Twitter posting.

He requested the people to start wearing masks and ensure getting vaccinated “otherwise very soon the situation may go out of hand”.

Data from the Sindh hea­lth department showed that the positivity rate in Karachi was 4.74pc on Dec 31.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has warned of a fifth wave of the deadly virus and made preparations to try to contain the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Data released by the NCOC showed that Pakistan reported 1,293 Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours — its highest tally in last two months — and the positivity rate stood at 2.52pc on Friday compared to 2.32pc a day earlier. A total of 51,145 samples were tested during this period.

The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 28,961 after six more patients succumbed to the deadly virus in the past 24 hours.

A total 609 patients of Covid-19 are in critical care in various hospitals across the country while there are 14,094 active patients. During the last 24 hours, 239 patients recovered from the deadly virus across the country.

With the emergence of the Covid-19 cases in the country, the vaccination campaign against the pandemic has also been geared up.

The NCOC directed all stakeholders to beef up vaccination campaigns for maximum inoculation of the eligible population. It also urged the people to follow standard operating procedures — such as avoid touching surfaces, frequently clean hands, wear a mask, etc — to combat the pandemic.

Until Friday, Pakistan has administered 161,409,693 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 99,144,159 people receiving the first dose and 73,484,322 people fully vaccinated.

“We have found that a sizable population of housewives are unvaccinated, and they socialise and attend weddings without face masks,” Qasim Siraj Soomro, parliamentary secretary health of the Sindh provincial government, told Reuters.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2022