LAHORE: As many as 17 new Omicron cases have been diagnosed in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab, in a day, bringing the number of total cases of the new strain of COVID-19 to 288 in the city.
According to sources in the provincial health department, the number of Omicron cases detected in Punjab stands at 298 of which 288 reported from Lahore.
Sources within the Punjab health department said stopping the new variant of coronavirus from spreading in Lahore has become a challenge for the provincial authorities and added the positivity ratio in the provincial capital has reached 5.8 percent.
The fifth wave of the COVID-19 seems to be intensifying as Pakistan reported 1,572 fresh cases of infection during the past 24 hours.
According to the latest figures shared by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 49,658 samples were tested during this period, out of which 1,572 turned out to be positive, showing a national positivity rate of 3.16 per cent.
The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 28,969 after seven more patients succumbed to the viral disease in the past 24 hours. The number of Covid patients in critical care in various hospitals across the country has come down to 629.
