Tally rises to five as three more cases of ‘JN.1’ detected in Karachi

KARACHI: Three passengers who arrived at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi coming from abroad tested positive for the new Covid-19 Omicron sub-variant “JN.1.”

With the fresh case, the number of JN.1 variant cases in Karachi has now rose to five.

According to Sindh Health Department, the rapid antigen tests of three passengers conducted at Jinnah International Airport turned positive.

The three passengers, residents of Qamber Shahdadkot, North Waziristan, and Mohmand Agency, were tested positive for JN.1 variant.

Earlier, Sindh Health Department confirmed two cases of COVID-19 in passengers who had arrived at Karachi’s Jinnah Inter­national Airport.

The health officials suspect the cases to be of the highly transmissible JN.1 variant, which is currently a cause of concern across the world.

The two passengers, between the ages of 50 and 60, arrived from Bangkok and Jeddah on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

It is pertinent to mention here that the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) decided to conduct COVID testing of passengers coming from abroad.The NCOC meeting discussed the situation in the country about the new variant of Covid JN-1.

The forum okayed COVID testing at the airports and borders.

Meanwhile, caretaker federal Minister for Health Dr Nadeem Jan said that the government is continuously monitoring the situation as this subvirus of Omicron was found in some countries.