ISLAMABAD, (UNS): The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has detected about 45 COVID-19 cases through respiratory illness surveillance over the past three months, according to an NIH official.
The official described the detections as sporadic and said the available findings do not indicate a widespread new wave in Pakistan.
The cases were identified through surveillance of patients with influenza-like symptoms. They therefore do not represent the total number of COVID-19 infections nationwide.
The official said the JN.1.30 variant was among the strains detected.
Pakistan’s NIH publishes weekly disease surveillance bulletins, but the figures cited for this three-month period do not provide a weekly case trend, the number of samples tested or a test positivity rate. Without those measures, it is difficult to assess whether infections have risen recently.
The NIH bulletin for August 24–30 recorded 34,171 suspected cases of influenza-like illness and 1,294 cases of severe acute respiratory infection across reporting regions.
Those are respiratory illness classifications, not confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The World Health Organization’s September 9 global update reported that SARS-CoV-2 test positivity remained low and stable globally in the week ending August 30. That global assessment does not, however, establish the trend within Pakistan.
Health authorities should continue monitoring infections, particularly their effect on older adults and people at greater risk of severe illness.
Publishing weekly testing totals, positivity rates, detected variants and hospital admissions would give the public a clearer basis for judging any change in the situation.
The supplied draft also describes 4,615 as confirmed COVID-19 cases, which conflicts with its figure of approximately 45 confirmed cases. The 4,615 figure has been omitted pending confirmation of what it measures.
