According to a health authority official, the COVID-19 positivity rate in Karachi has risen to 28.30% as 30 out of 106 people screened for the virus were found to be positive. In contrast, the positivity rate for the entire country was much lower at 3%, as only three out of 100 individuals tested positive for the virus.
“COVID-19 positivity rate has started rising in the country since 100 individuals tested positive during the last 24 hours after as many as 3,147 tests were conducted across the country registering 3.18% COVID-19 positivity rate”, an official of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad told The News.
The National Institute of Health in Islamabad has released statistics indicating that the COVID-19 positivity rate in three major cities in Pakistan, including Karachi, Islamabad, and Peshawar, was above 10%. In Islamabad, the positivity rate was 12.20%, as 25 individuals tested positive out of 205 tests conducted for detecting the virus. Meanwhile, Peshawar saw a positivity rate of 14.29%, with 14 individuals testing positive out of 94 tests.
In contrast to the higher positivity rates in Karachi, Islamabad, and Peshawar, Lahore’s positivity rate remained at 4.14%, with 18 new COVID-19 cases found in 435 tests. Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Balochistan, and Gilgit Baltistan reported no new cases of COVID-19.
An official from the National Institute of Health commented on the situation, attributing the increase in COVID-19 cases to a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The official also stated that the virus was spreading rapidly, but the rate of hospitalization remained relatively low in the country, with only 18 people being treated in the ICUs and high dependency units (HDUs) across the country.
The official further explained that the high positivity rate was due to the fact that only people with symptoms of the virus were being screened. As a result, the government has requested that provinces and centers increase the number of tests to accurately determine the actual situation.