President Arif Alvi tests positive for Covid-19 again

President Arif Alvi has once again tested positive for Covid-19 amid fears of the fifth wave of the pandemic fuelled by the Omicron variant.

"I have tested [posit]+ive for Covid again. Had a sore throat since 4-5 days & was getting better," the president confirmed on the official Twitter handle.

He said that he felt mildly feverish for a few hours two nights ago and had no other symptoms. President Alvi urged people to take precautions and follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

In March last year, President Alvi and Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak were infected with the contagious disease.

“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,” the president said in his tweet.

Read Omicron feared to loom within mosques

On Wednesday, Planning Minister Asad Umar warned that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus was spreading rapidly in Pakistan and feared that it would spread even more quickly in days to come.

The warning came as the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) – the government’s synchronised strategy to control the pandemic – reported nearly 900 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day tally of new cases in nearly three months.

Read more: NCOC warns Omicron spreading fast

Umar, the NCOC chief, told a media briefing along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, that vaccination and following the Covid-induced standard operating procedures (SOPs) were the only way to avoid the spread of the new variant.

“As per information, the areas where vaccination ratio is high, the impact of the new variant is far lower than the places where the vaccination ratio is low,” Umar told the joint media briefing along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan.

The minister said that the hospitalisation of patients had increased manifold in South Africa, the UK, and the US after the spread of Omicron. In South Africa, the number of Omicron cases shot by 3,500% from 116 to 25,000 within four weeks, he said, adding hospitalisation also increased there by 700%.