Screening on Airports tightened amid fear of Covid’s new sub-variant import

LAHORE: Border Health Services (BHS) Thursday directed airport authorities to tighten COVID-19 screening for all international travellers landing in Pakistan following a recent global resurgence in virus cases, especially in China and India.

The advisory also binds the Airport Health Services to screen — using Antigen Rapid Test— every unwell traveller at the airports. The instructions has been issued to the concerned authorities to ensure that people, coming from other countries, go through thermal scanners at airports across Pakistan.

According to the notification, all the focal persons of the BHS have been advised to maintain a heightened level of awareness for the rapid identification, detection, and isolation of any potential cases to prevent further transmission as a part of effective control and prevention measures.

All the in-charges have been advised to strictly implement Infection Prevention Control (IPC) protocols at the points of entry, including disinfection and fumigation of passenger arrival areas and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPES) by the healthcare workers for interruption of transmission.

However, on December 24, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had denied the detection of Omicron sub-variant called BF.7 in Pakistan and said there was no threat of any new variant of COVID-19.

An unverified news is circulating in the media regarding the threat of a new COVID-19 variant.
The National Command and Operations Center affirms that at present there is no such threat. The situation is being closely monitored.

— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) December 24, 2022

 

“An unverified report is circulating in the media regarding the threat of a new COVID-19 variant. The National Command and Operations Center affirms that there is currently no such threat. The situation is being closely monitored,” the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad said in a statement on Twitter last week.

But now, a random sampling of all inbound passengers on international flights (2%) has been advised as part of the national response against COVID-19 at the points of entry. The border health authority has also advised all the airlines to facilitate its staff in carrying out the testing smoothly, as some passengers often resist being tested.

According to official statistics for Thursday shared by NIH, 3583 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours resulting in 0.33% positive cases. The Covid monitoring body said 12 new cases were registered across the country while 19 patients were in critical condition. It said no death from Coronavirus was reported in the stated time period.

COVID-19 Statistics 29 December 2022
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 3,583
Positive Cases: 12
Positivity %: 0.33%
Deaths: 00
Patients on Critical Care: 19

— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) December 29, 2022

 

Following China, India reported the detection of several cases of BF.7, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which is driving the huge COVID surge in China. The BF.7 sub-variant has already been detected in several other countries, including Germany, Belgium, France, Denmark, the US, and the UK.

Believed to be a highly transmissible variant with a shorter incubation period, the BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA, experts at NIH said. They said it also has a higher capacity to cause re-infection and infect vaccinated individuals.

“As per the latest studies, the BF.7 variant has several times higher neutralization resistance than the original Wuhan virus. This means the antibodies from the vaccination are not effective enough against the virus”, an expert at the NIH told media.