Health

KARACHI: City’s contribution to new cases of Covid-19 in the country rose to 66 per cent on Thursday as vaccine hesitancy, absence of Covid-19 related official restrictions and public indifference towards the disease fuelled a surge in coronavirus infection. According to official figures released at the federal and provincial level, a total of 3,019 new positive Covid-19 cases were detected …

Pakistan reported more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, a jump of 45.5 per cent from a day earlier, and marking the first time in nearly four months that daily infections exceeded 3,000. In the last 24 hours, 3,019 new cases were detected compared to 2,074 on Wednesday. The positivity rate also jumped to 6.12 per cent from 4.7pc …

ISLAMABAD: The surge in Covid-19 infections has set alarm bells ringing as the country reported over 2,000 cases on Wednesday after a gap of more than 100 days, while the positivity rate of Karachi surpassed 20 per cent. A member of the Scientific Task Force on Covid-19, Dr Javed Akram, said the surge was not unexpected, as people were suffering …

LAHORE: Punjab especially its capital, Lahore, has witnessed an alarming surge in the Omicron variant of COVID-19. According to the provincial health department, the province has so far reported 372 cases of Omicron of which 351 are reported in Lahore. “43 fresh cases of the variant were reported during the last 24 hours in Lahore,” the department said. Over the …

A fast-spreading Omicron variant that causes milder illness compared with previous versions of the coronavirus has fueled the view that COVID-19 poses less of a risk than in the past. In which case, some ask, why go to great lengths to prevent getting infected now, since everybody will be exposed to the virus sooner or later? Here is why experts …

Preliminary findings from two South African clinical trials suggest the Omicron coronavirus variant has a much higher rate of “asymptomatic carriage” than earlier variants, which could explain why it has spread so rapidly across the globe. The studies – one of which was carried out when Omicron infections were surging in South Africa last month and another which resampled participants …

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staffers were invited to a “bring your own booze” party in the garden of his Downing Street residence during the first nationwide coronavirus lockdown in 2020, according to a leaked email seen by broadcaster ITV. Johnson, who won a landslide victory in a 2019 election, has faced a barrage of criticism over alleged parties in …

ISLAMABAD: The capital on Monday reported 113 cases of Covid-19, including 95 of the Omicron variant. In the last 24 hours, 3,785 tests were conducted among contacts of the positive cases and suspects out of which 64 males and 49 females tested positive with the positivity rate of 2.98pc. Officials said 36 cases were reported in the age group of …

ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday appreciated administrations of three urban districts — Kalat, Karachi South and Islamabad — for achieving targets of vaccinating maximum population. Moreover, three districts of remote areas — Orakzai, Neelam and Tharparkar — have also achieved maximum vaccination targets despite difficult terrain and limited resources. Meanwhile, the national positivity rate of …

Citigroup Inc staff in the United States who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 by Jan. 14 will be placed on unpaid leave and fired at the end of the month unless they are granted an exemption, according to a company memo seen by Reuters on Friday. The US bank announced its plan to impose new vaccination rules in October and now …