Sindh Health Department has confirmed on Tuesday that three cases of the new variant of the novel coronavirus have been detected in Karachi.

As per provincial authorities, 12 people returning from the United Kingdom were tested, of which 6 returned positive. Three of those positive tests were confirmed to be the new variant of Covid-19 which was first discovered in Great Britain.

Genotyping of the three positive cases showed that it was a 95% match of the new variant. The samples will now go through another round of genotyping. Contact tracing of the three patients is ongoing with their contacts also being isolated.

The new variant, discovered in England a few weeks ago, is thought to be 70% more contagious than the original virus. Studies have yet to show if it is more deadly.

As yet, the new variant has been discovered in Denmark, Netherlands, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Canada, Lebanon, Singapore and Japan.

As of Tuesday, both India and Pakistan have also confirmed cases of the virus.