Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho on Thursday said a suspected case of the coronavirus Omicron variant was detected in the country.

Suspect the case to be of the Omicron variant due to the virus’ behavior, she said in a statement.

The genome sequencing has not been done as of now, but we suspect it to be the Omicron variant due to the manner in which the virus is behaving.

The provincial health minister added that, The Omicron variant spreads quickly, but recent reports from South Africa suggests that the variant does not cause serious illness or a high number of deaths.

The suspected Omicron patient is an unvaccinated 57-year-old woman living in Karachi.

Received the first patient suspected of having Covid-19 Omicron variant, the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) said in a statement.

AKUH added that, “We are awaiting the results of the final confirmatory test, which will take a few days and have reported the suspected patient to the health department.”

Surprisingly, the hospital spokesperson also informed the reporter that the suspected patient was discharged.

This makes us question the safety protocols AKUH has in place for treating suspected Omicron patients.

“Our current COVID-19 prevention and management protocols are adequate for the treatment of the virus,” the AKUH spokesperson said.