Pakistan detects first Omicron case: health ministry official

Authorities in Pakistan have detected the first case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the South Asian nation, a provincial health ministry official said on Thursday.

The spokesperson in the southern province of Sindh said the infection was found in an unvaccinated patient being treated at a private hospital in Pakistan's most populous city of Karachi.

The patient had travelled abroad, said the official, who gave no details of the location, but added that contact tracing was underway.