ISLAMABAD: Medical staff at airports resumed screening for passengers exhibiting symptoms connected with the coronavirus on Thursday after the government asked the provinces to keep a sharp lookout for any new variants of the respiratory disease, citing an increase in cases in China and other parts of the globe.
China has registered a surge in infections after ending strict restrictions, while data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows infections have risen in countries including Japan, South Korea and the United States in recent days.
Health experts have warned an explosion of new cases in China could create a “potential breeding ground” for new variants to emerge.
Responding to the changing scenario, the Ministry of National Health Services announced tightening up the surveillance regime at all airports, and monitor inbound travellers.
An official of the ministry said the spread of the BF.7 Omicron sub-variant — the variant behind the latest surge in China — was causing serious concerns. He added that several additional measures have also been taken to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible variant of the virus.
Beijing has been rapidly reversing the strict Covid-19 curbs in place since early 2020 after protests that broke out in November in the Chinese mainland’s biggest show of public discontent since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012.
His subsequent abrupt U-turn on the curbs, which have battered the $17 trillion economy, means the virus is now spreading largely unchecked across the country of 1.4 billion people.
Reports suggest hospitals across China have become overwhelmed with patients and that the virus is also spreading rapidly among frontline medical workers.
Aware of the situation, the authorities in Pakistan have instructed the deployment of thermal scanners to carry out temperature checks on passengers, including those from China, at airports.
The health ministry said that an “efficient system with a proper management team is fully functional” to remain vigilant and was ready to make an emergency plan to deal with any new variant.
The official said that health workers at intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals were also active nationwide to deal with any untoward situation. He further said that genome sequencing has also been initiated at laboratories to trace the variant and to accommodate any remedial measures.
According to ministry statistics, 90 percent of the population has already been vaccinated against Covid-19. The official said that special directions were issued to ensure the availability of an adequate quantity of ventilators, oxygen supplies, and antiviral medicines in the hospitals.
Separately, the National Institute of Health (NIH) said that 26 new cases of coronavirus were reported across the country during the last 24 hours. The positivity ratio after testing 3,488 samples was calculated at 0.75 percent.
While 14 of them were critical, no death was reported.
