President Arif Alvi 'out of COVID-19 Omicron version'

President Arif Alvi on Wednesday updated his well wishers to let them know he has "come out of COVID-19 Omicron version" and has tested negative.

"With the grace of Allah, Al Rahman Al Raheem and Al Shafee, and with your prayers, which I believe always have an effect, I have come out of COVID-19 Omicron version, and have tested negative. Al Hamdulillah," he wrote on Twitter.

The president had announced he has tested positive for COVID on January 6.

In a post on Twitter at the time, the president said: "I have tested [positive] for COVID again. Had a sore throat since 4-5 days & was getting better. Felt mildly feverish for a few hours two nights ago. No other symptoms."

President Alvi had advised everyone to "please resume precautions and follow [safety protocols]".

This was the second time that the president had tested positive for coronavirus, with the first instance being in March 2021.

He had announced on March 29 that he had tested positive, a few days after receiving his first coronavirus jab.

"I have tested positive for COVID-19. May Allah have mercy on all Covid affectees. Had 1st dose of vaccine but antibodies start developing after 2nd dose that was due in a week. Please continue to be careful," he had tweeted.

Meanwhile, a sharp rise in cases continue to be reported by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with today's tally at 2,074 for cases in the last 24 hours. This is the highest caseload since September 24, 2021 — more than three months ago.

The national positivity ratio has now reached 4.70% and overall infections have jumped past 1.309 million.

Pakistan also registered 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest since December 15, 2021, pushing the death toll to 28,987, NCOC figures showed.

The situation is particularly worrying in Karachi, where in the last 24 hours, the positivity ratio crossed 20%, with the Sindh Health Department mulling over a 14-day "special vaccination programme" in several cities of Sindh.

As per the latest statistics, 6,048 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the city of which 1,223 returned positive. In 95% of the positive cases, Omicron was confirmed, according to the provincial health department.

As of January 3, Pakistan recorded 372 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to data provided to Geo News by the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination.