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Four cases of a new variant of COVID JN1, an Omicron sub-variant, have been reported in Pakistan, as reported by ARY News.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said that all the affected people had mild symptoms of the new coronavirus variant. He said that the WHO designated JN.1 as a variant of interest, according to ARY News. Meanwhile, Caretaker Federal Minister for Health, Nadeem Jan, said that the government is closely monitoring the situation. He said that the border health services and national and provincial health authority labs are fully operational and alert to monitor the disease on the instructions of the health minister. Following the reports of the new COVID variant, international airports now have an effective screening system at all entrances and exits. He stated that the Border Health Services Department is implementing the recommendations of the International Health Regulations. Moreover, he added that the federation and provinces are on full alert. He further said that 90 per cent of Pakistan's population has already been vaccinated, as reported by ARY News. Nadeem Jan has advised citizens to use masks, maintain proper distance and take other precautions to avoid spreading diseases like COVID-19 or flu in the winter. Earlier, the Sindh Health Department confirmed two cases of COVID-19 in passengers who had arrived at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, ARY News reported. Meanwhile, health officials suspected the cases to be of the highly transmissible JN.1 variant, which is currently a cause of concern across the world. Those two passengers, between the ages of 50 and 60, arrived from Bangkok and Jeddah on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Notably, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to conduct COVID testing on passengers coming from abroad. The NCOC meeting discussed the situation in the country regarding the new variant of COVID-JN-1, according to ARY News. Furthermore, Nadeem Jan said that the government is continuously monitoring the situation as this subvirus of Omicron was found in some other countries as well. (ANI)
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