Title : COVID-19 waves with associated variants & scenario in Pakistan

Abstract:

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped RNA beta-coronavirus virus that is corona viridae-related. It originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and is known to cause COVID-19 illness. SARS-CoV-2posed a major threat to the world in concern of health along with trade and medical facilities. COVID-19 patients experience comorbid conditions like severe fever, typhoid, myocarditis, and a fatal black fungus attack. World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as an emergency on 30th January 2020 and a pandemic on 11th March. As of right now, COVID-19 has been verified to have infected over 100 million people across 210 nations, and 2 million of those infections have resulted in death. RT-qPCR (Reverse transcriptase qualitative PCR) test is performed if any symptoms exist, and isolation is necessary for three to five days after the confirmation. In Pakistan, it was reported firstly on 26th February 2020 by the Pakistan government when two persons were found infected with the disease. SARS-CoV-2 changes its genome constantly and results in the emergence of different variants in different waves. Pakistan has faced 6 sequential waves since 2020 to date, each associated with different variants and overlapping variants. The first wave was associated with B.1, B.1.471, B.1.36, second with B.1.36.31, B.1.247, B.1.1.1, B.1.160, B.1.471, B.1.562, B.1.1.7, B.1.1.250, B.1.261, B.1.351, P.1, third with B.1.1.7, B.1.351,P.1, B.1.617.2, B.1.36, B.1.468, B.1.1.413, A.27, fourth with P.1, B.1.617.2, fifth with Omicron (B.1.1.529) and sixth with new sub variants of Omicron (BA.4 & BA.5). In terms of severity and infectivity, Omicron and its sub variants differ from Delta and other SARS-CoV-2 variants. In this review, we have discussed SARS-CoV-2 spike mutations, its variants along with their origin& association to wave(s), and its scenario in Pakistan. Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus Variants; Waves in Pakistan; Mutations in SARS-CoV-2;Covid Prevalence.

Biography:

Ghazala Rubi completed her Post graduation from Surrey University UK, trained at Royal Free London Hospital. She went back Pakistan & established Molecular Pathology services for Hospitals. She got another post-graduation from Bradford University. She got PhD in Human Genetics & Molecular Pathology. Vast experience of Molecular Genetics Pathology. She is Director of Research & Molecular Genetics Pathology, completed 26 Research Projects. National & International speaker at Conferences. She worked as frontline worrier for COVID-19 & did RT-PCR of 355000 tests of Patients. She got multiple awards for her tremendous work as WHO awarded her worth PCR Multiplex Machine.