Punjab especially its capital, Lahore, has witnessed an alarming surge in the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

According to the provincial health department, the province has so far reported 372 cases of Omicron of which 351 are reported in Lahore.

“43 fresh cases of the variant were reported during the last 24 hours in Lahore,” the department said. Over the past 24 hours, Sheikhpura reported six new cases of the Omicron variant.

The health department said that containment of the new variant in Lahore has become a challenging task for the health authorities as the positivity ratio has gone beyond six percent in the provincial capital and currently stands at 6.9%.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity was recorded at an alarming 6.12% during the last 24 hours, while the country reported 3,019 cases during the last 24 hours.

According to the latest figures shared by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 49,270 samples were tested during this period, out of which 3,019 turned out to be positive, showing a drastic surge in the national positivity rate of 6.12 per cent as compared to yesterday’s 4.7%.