Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): Pakistan reported 693 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday while the positivity ratio remained 3.35% during the last 24 hours.
As per data shared by the National Institute of Health (NIH), 20,678 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours.
One death was reported from the disease in the last 24 hours while 177 patients were on critical care across the country. The current positivity ratio stands at 3.35%.
6a948c58a0aca04b9548e39be20b35e7
It is pertinent to mention that BA5, part of the Omicron family, is to cause widespread waves of infection globally.
The variant is not new as first identified in January, BA5 has been tracked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) since April.
It is a sister variant of the Omicron strain that has been dominant worldwide since the end of 2021 and has already caused spikes in case rates, even with reduced testing, in countries including South Africa, where it was first found, as well as the United Kingdom (UK), parts of Europe, and Australia.
