COVID situation worsens in Karachi as positivity rate spikes to 18%

KARACHI: The fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic is hitting Karachi hard as the city’s positivity ratio surged to 18% Tuesday morning— the highest in the country.

The coronavirus situation has started worsening in Karachi as the city reported 805 confirmed cases of the virus after 4,469 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's coronavirus positivity ratio remained over 3% for the third straight day, as COVID-19's Omicron variant continues to spread across the country and push infection rates.

The National Command and Operations Centre's (NCOC) Tuesday morning data showed that 1,467 cases were reported from across the country after 43,540 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. This took the positivity ratio to 3.33%.

The detection of new cases moved overall infections past 1.307 million, while two more deaths were reported that bumped the death toll to 28,974, NCOC's website showed.

Worried parents ask govt to act quickly amid COVID-19 surge

A day earlier, worried about Omicron and alarming surge in new COVID-19 cases in Karachi amid the fifth wave of the pandemic in the country, the parents had demanded immediate steps by the Sindh government to control the virus spread.

According to the officials from the Sindh health department, Karachi saw an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases on Saturday, with the virus positivity ratio recorded at more than 15%.

87% of the COVID-19 cases in Karachi are of Omicron variant, said the head of Dow Diagnostic Research and Reference Laboratory

Reacting to the worsening COVID-19 situation in the metropolis, a parent, Syed Muhammad Aqeel Abidi termed it “Absolutely terrible”.