As cases of new Covid-19 variant JN.1 rise in many countries including India and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has escaped the new strain so far, a report said on Monday.

However, Pakistan is preparing to receive at least 500,000 doses of Pfizer’s new Covid-19 vaccine (2023-24 formula) in January 2024, especially to vaccinate pilgrims who will be travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj later this year, it said.

Over 850,000 cases of the new Covid-19 variant have been reported between November 20 and December 17, according to the World Health Organization.

Pakistani daily The News citing officials at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad reported that NIH Islamabad and provincial health facilities in Lahore and Karachi had not yet detected JN.1 sub-variant in Pakistan. At the same time, overall Covid-19 positivity was quite low at less than 1 per cent.

However, the new variant has been detected in Saudi Arabia and thousands of Pakistani pilgrims will be heading to the Middle Eastern country to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage later this year.

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Pakistan needs the new vaccine to protect pilgrims from the strain.

“We believe that Saudi authorities will require vaccination against Covid-19 with new mRNA vaccine developed by the Pfizer or other companies authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before allowing pilgrims to enter their territory for Haj,” the daily reported citing an NIH official who it did not name.