ISLAMABAD: As the country continues to see a drop in number of Coronavirus infections, Scientific Task Force has announced that ‘Epsilon’, another variant of the deadly virus had managed to reach Pakistan.
A member of Scientific Task Force on COVID-19 has said a virulent variant of Covid-19 called ‘Epsilon’ had been detected.
“This variant had originated in California, which was why it was called the California strain or B.1.429,” he said, adding that it later reached the United Kingdom and other European countries.
“Now we have been receiving cases in Pakistan,” he said, adding that so far five variants and seven mutations of Epsilon had been reported which made it more infectious.
“We need to understand that the virus has been controlled but not eradicated, therefore, there are chances of it bouncing back,” the task force member said.
He said around 40 patients had been confirmed in Pakistan having the strain through gene sequencing, but this was not an accurate figure. “Gene sequencing has not been done on every patient,” he added.
The positive side was that all vaccines were effective against Epsilon, therefore people should get immunised and adhere to the standard operating procedures.
Japan has provided equipment worth $6.59 million to Pakistan through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for enhancing national capacity to store Coronavirus vaccine.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on its National Coronavirus Dashboard has displayed that during last 24 hours 554 new cases and 12 casualties were reported in a single day.
The last time less than 554 cases were reported was on Oct 18, 2020 when 440 patients were identified.
According to the data, the national positivity ratio remained 1.31 per cent, with 1,783 patients in critical condition.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) and NCOC launched a video that explained how Covid-19 vaccine worked.
The video shows how the vaccine produced antibodies that acted like soldiers and protected the body from the virus.
“The vaccine does not become a reason for the disease rather it trains soldiers of the body to recognise Covid-19 and respond to the virus when it enters the body,” the video explained, adding that this was why a person experienced certain side effects after he or she received the vaccine.
Read more: Pakistan’s active COVID-19 cases drop below 25,000-mark after over seven months
