Indian, South African variants of coronavirus detected in KP: health secretary

• Indian and South African variants of the novel coronavirus have been detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• One coronavirus patient was infected with Indian variant, while two patients were infected with South African variants. 
• All three patients had arrived in Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates a few days ago.

PESHAWAR:  The Indian and South African variants of the novel coronavirus have been detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial health department confirmed Friday.

According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, the Indian variant of the coronavirus was confirmed in a patient. Meanwhile, two patients who tested positive for the virus were found to be infected with the South African variant. 

Shah said that all three patients had arrived in Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates a few days ago.

"All three infected patients are residents of Peshawar," Shah said, adding that the samples of 12 more patients had been sent to Islamabad for testing. 

Providing further details about the infected patients, the provincial health secretary said that person who has been infected with the Indian variant of the coronavirus is 41 years of age, while the other two patients — who have been infected with the South African variant of the virus — are 38 and 18 years of age, respectively. 

The health secretary also said that both the Indian and the South African variant of the novel coronavirus spread rapidly and are dangerous. He, therefore, urged the masses to strictly follow the government's mandated coronavirus standard operating procedure (SOPs). 

At 3.58%, Pakistan reports lowest coronavirus positivity rate in three months

On Friday, Pakistan reported its lowest coronavirus positivity rate in three months at 3.58%, according to the the latest statistics provided by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

The last lowest COVID-19 positivity rate reported by the country was on February 28 at 3.02%.

As many as 83 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, according to NCOC's daily coronavirus report.

The report stated that 52,859 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, out of which 1,893 tests came back positive.

According to the official portal, the rate of positive cases of COVID-19 in the country during the last 24 hours was 3.58%.

The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in the country so far stands at 21,105, while the total number of cases is 928,588. Meanwhile, 856,005 people have recovered from the virus so far.

The country is reporting a decline in coronavirus cases amid the deadly third wave that has wreaked havoc, however, Sindh is still reporting a spike in cases.