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New UK coronavirus variant detected in Pakistan's Sindh province

The new UK strain has been identified in three samples taken from passengers who recently returned from Britain

Pakistan airport

The people who tested positive had recently returned from Britain. Representational photo: Shutterstock

IANS Karachi

Health authorities in Pakistan's Sindh province announced on Tuesday that the new coronavirus variant found in the UK has been identified in three samples taken from passengers who recently returned from Britain.

The Sindh Health Department took samples of 12 UK returnees for genotyping out of which six were found to be Covid-19 positive, Geo News reported.

"Three showed the new variant for the COVID-19 in the first phase," the Department said in a statement.

The statement added the genotyping revealed it to be a 95 per cent match of the new strain, which is 70 per cent more transmissible.

 

The authorities have initiated contact tracing of the patients and are placing them under isolation.

"These samples will go through a second round of genotyping," Department spokesperson Meeran Yousuf told Geo News.

The development comes as Pakistan's overall coronavirus caseload and death toll have increased to 475,085 and 9,992, as of Tuesday.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: Dec 29 2020 | 2:36 PM IST

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