KARACHI: With two more air travellers tested positive for Covid, the Sindh government on Tuesday formed a task force to tackle the emerging threat from JN.1, the highly contagious new variant of Covid-19.

Speaking at a press conference, caretaker Sindh Health Minister Dr Saad Khalid Niaz announced the task force and said that it would be headed by Health Director General Dr Waqar Mahmood with Dr Faisal Mahmood as its co-chairman.

He said that the provincial government had set up special wards at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital & Research Centre to treat infected patients.

He said that the health government was taking measures to arrange more space in other public health facilities to meet any emerging challenge.

Two more air travellers test positive for Covid

“Compared to other variants that we witnessed in the past, the new variant is not that strong,” the health minister said, adding: “But we are closely monitoring the situation and setting up the task force to prepare a strategy.

He said that the people should take precautionary measures and those who were experiencing flu-like symptoms should avoid going into public or congested places.

According to a notification, other members of the task force are Dr Saqib Sheikh, Dr Muhammad Asif, one representative each from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Expanded Programme on Immunisation, WHO’s Dr Sara Salman, Dr Muniba Ahsan Syed, Osama Khalid of Ziauddin University and Shabbir Ali as focal person for media.

The task force will directly report to the health minister and provide technical support to the health department.

It would also develop an emergency response plan outlining specific actions to be taken in the event of a surge in Covid cases and set up mechanisms for monitoring to ensure effective implementation of Covid prevention and control measures.

The taskforce, it said, would establish communication protocols for disseminating information to the public and other stakeholders.

It would also foster collaboration and coordination with other provinces, national authorities, NGOs, and international partners to share resources, expertise, and best practices.

Also on Tuesday, the Sindh health department said that two male passengers —28-year-old resident of Faisalabad and 25-year-old resident of Malakand —arrived at the Karachi airport from Jeddah tested positive for Covid.

“Their Rapid Antigen Test was positive, which means both of them are infected with coronavirus,” said the health department.

It said they left for their homes after being advised to self-quarantine. Their blood samples for detecting the variant they suffered from had been sent to for a detailed analysis to a Dow University of Health Sciences’ laboratory.

It said that a day earlier samples of four more air travellers were collected and sent to a laboratory for a PCR test and all of them tested positive for Covid.

Recently, two air travellers, who were found to have Covid during screening at the Jinnah International Airport, had tested positive for JN.1 variant.

Later, the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) had confirmed five locally transmitted cases of JN.1.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024