KARACHI: Two more passengers tested positive for Covid on Monday at the Jinnah International Airport, raising the total number of travellers detected with the infection within five days to six.

Sources said two male passengers, aged 26 and 27 years, arrived from Abu Dhabi and Jeddah, respectively. One of them was a resident of Kech, Balochistan.

“Their Rapid Antigen Tests (for Covid) were positive,” a health department official said, adding that their samples for detailed analysis had been sent to a Dow University of Health Sciences’ laboratory.

“The lab results showing the Covid variant they suffer from will be available in a few days,” he added.

Both passengers left for their homes after being advised to self-quarantine as a precaution.

Earlier, four international travellers hailing from different areas of Sindh and Punjab tested positive for Covid at the airport. All were advised to self-quarantine at homes.

It might be recalled that screening at airports has resumed in the wake of an emerging threat of JN.1, a ‘highly contagious’ Covid variant.

Described as a sub-variant of the Omicron lineage, the new variant is stated to be more transmissible than other circulating variants, and the proportion of cases caused by this particular virus has been rising in several countries.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2024