{"id":889281,"date":"2021-11-29T13:09:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T08:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/?p=889281"},"modified":"2022-08-30T15:14:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T10:14:31","slug":"practically-impossible-to-keep-omicron-out-of-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/practically-impossible-to-keep-omicron-out-of-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Practically Impossible to Keep Omicron Out of Pakistan\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo of Planning Minister Asad Umar. Youtube<\/p><\/div>\n

Special Assistant to P.M. on Health warns new variant of concern spreads quickly and has potential to be more dangerous than earlier variants of COVID-19<\/h6>\n

Warning that it is \u201cpractically impossible\u201d to keep the Omicron variant of the coronavirus out of Pakistan in an increasingly globalized world, Special Assistant to the P.M. on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan urged all citizens to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible to reduce the threat posed by it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past few days, many European states have reported new outbreaks of the coronavirus,\u201d he told a press conference in Islamabad alongside Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) coordinating the national response to the pandemic. \u201cThis has primarily been reported among people who have not been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

This, he stressed, is particularly worrying in light of the new variant of concern designated by the World Health Organization. Dubbed Omicron, the new variant was originally identified in South Africa and has since been reported in over 6 other states already.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new variant spreads much faster than earlier variants,\u201d warned Sultan, adding that its spread poses a risk to health systems, as it could lead to a rapid increase in hospitalizations that could place existing infrastructure under great pressure. \u201cThis new variant has certain mutations that make it easier to transmit and could potentially increase the severity of the disease,\u201d he said, adding that the NCOC would be reviewing and strengthening its testing protocol in light of the latest available data.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever,\u201d he emphasized, \u201cthe entire world is now connected so stopping its entry [into Pakistan] is practically impossible.\u201d The only verifiable means to reduce its spread, he maintained, is through vaccinations and urged citizens to get fully vaccinated as soon as possible and continue preventative measures such as avoiding large public gatherings and mask compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger has not passed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve administered tens of millions of vaccines thus far, but we still need to administer tens of millions more,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Impossible task<\/strong><\/p>\n

The planning minister, likewise, warned that the Omicron variant\u2019s entry to Pakistan could not be prevented. \u201cWe can delay or reduce the [impact of the] variant from reaching Pakistan,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we cannot prevent it,\u201d he said, adding that world was too globalized.<\/p>\n

On South Africa, Umar said that the rapid transmission of the Omicron variant could be gauged by how the pandemic had progressed there in the past 12 days. \u201cJust 12 days ago, southern Africa was reporting COVID positivity of 0.9 percent; it is now reporting 9.77%. In just 12 days, they witnessed an increase by 10,\u201d he added. \u201cOnce this variant reaches Pakistan, we will not have much time before it spreads,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

The key preventative measure, he said, was vaccination. \u201cThe 30 million Pakistanis who have only received one dose of vaccines thus far should get themselves fully vaccinated as soon as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are working with all provincial governments and in another 2-3 days, we\u2019ll start a massive vaccination campaign to expedite the vaccination program,\u201d he said, warning that the next 2-3 weeks were critical and the threat of the new variant could be reduced if more people ensured they were vaccinated against COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The planning minister said that the NCOC, in its meeting, had considered offering booster shots for the segment of society most at-risk from COVID-19, adding that decisions in this regard would be announced tomorrow.<\/p>\n

On testing, Umar said that authorities were primarily testing symptomatic patients, which had naturally led to a reduction in overall testing in recent weeks. \u201cWe have now decided to start randomized testing in high-risk areas and rejuvenate contact tracing to curb the spread of the disease,\u201d he said, adding that more stringent measures would also be implemented at all entry points, including airports, to ensure travelers did not bring the virus from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special Assistant to P.M. on Health warns new variant of concern spreads quickly and has potential to be more dangerous than earlier variants of COVID-19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":884825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,54],"tags":[19025,40859,34966,35265,36016,40860,40867,35297,36062,517,984,40868,749],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/asad-umar-ncoc.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=889281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pakistanstandard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}