KARACHI: Following the resumption of the rapid antigen testing for coronavirus at Karachi airport, a sharp surge has been witnessed in the number of Covid-infected passengers arriving in the country from different parts of the world as 79 passengers were tested positive for the disease in just four days, it emerged on Monday.

The trend has compelled the authorities to go for the genome sequencing of these travellers, who had been quarantined at government designated hospitals and hotels.

Official sources said that the identification of the first case of new Omicron variant in the country and recent rise in Covid infection convinced the Sindh government to resume the rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 at the airport.

Last week, health workers with all resources were deputed at the airport, where they were working round the clock in different shifts taking samples of every single passenger arriving here.

“Between January 6 and 9, total 79 people who arrived Karachi were found Covid-19 positive,” said an official. “They were immediately moved to the designated hospitals and hotels for isolation. It’s not yet confirmed whether they are infected by the new Omicron variant or not. Their genome sequencing is under process and then we would be able to say anything about that.”

He said that the antigen testing facilities were withdrawn after a sharp decline in the coronavirus cases in the province and normalisation of business in almost every major centres.

799 new cases in Karachi

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while sharing daily data said that 39 more cases of Omicron variant emerged when 53 samples were tested lifting the tally to 367.

He said 940 new cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed through 13,757 tests and one more patient died lifting the death toll to 7,682.

He said that during last two days 53 tests were conducted which detected 39 new cases lifting the number of Omicron cases detected in the province so far to 367.

Giving details of Covid-19 situation, Mr Shah said the current detection rate came to 6.8 per cent. Out of 940 new cases, 799 have been detected from Karachi, including 350 from district South, 275 East, 115 Central, 45 Korangi, 35 Malir and 24 cases from district West.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2022