According to information, the contagious variant which is believed to be the most transmissible yet was unfortunately found in swab samples gathered at the Bacha Khan international airport from passengers who had traveled from the UK.
The samples were later on confirmed by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.
However, the officials do hold a strong perspective that the cases have come from the United Kingdom but it is also worthy to note that passengers arriving from Gulf countries tend to be a serious threat to our country.
Read more: Covid-19 response in India and Pakistan
Gulf countries have people living from all around the world including India where it is said that variant had originated from had been creating massive havoc by causing shortages in oxygen cylinders taking up large spaces and overwhelming the health infrastructures.
The official, who requested to keep his anonymity as he was not allowed to speak directly to the media, said that the federal health department officials could only identify the common and UK variants of Covid-19 but lacked the capacity to find the Indian-origin variant.
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Over 80% of the cases being confirmed at the airport are the UK variant which is of serious concern but as soon as the Indian variant was confirmed among passengers in Peshawar, the staff members panicked,” the official said.
Dr. Iftikharuddin had stated that the Indian variant will make its way to Pakistan sooner or later. “There should be no doubt that the Indian variant will land in Pakistan, but we need to be prepared.” The health expert has urged that more people need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to prevent newer variants.
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The medical expert emphasized the importance of vaccinations as the only solution to prevent deaths. “Otherwise, I fear we will have to go back to the lockdowns and discontinue education, gatherings, and specifically economic activities,” he told the media.