KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah Thursday said that as many as 268 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected so far in the province with most of them coming through the local transmission of the virus.

Sharing details of the COVID-19 situation in the province, the CM Sindh said that so far 268 cases of Omicron have been confirmed while 95 cases have been reported from December 28 to January 02. “These 95 cases have been detected after 133 samples were sent for genome-sequencing, showing the presence of new cases of the variant in the province,” he said.

The chief minister while confirming the local transmission of the new variant said that some cases have been found in people having a travel history while most of them were locally transmitted. The masses should adopt strict precautionary measures to avoid contracting the Omicron variant, he said.

In an alarming trend, the positivity ratio of COVID-19 cases in Karachi has reached beyond nine percent, the provincial health department said on Thursday amid concerns over rising cases of Omicron variant.