With 55 COVID-19 related deaths reported in the last two hours, Pakistan's tally of death has crossed 10,000 mark, as per National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) data. According to the data, 2,155 people have tested COVID-19 positive during the last 24 hours after tests of 36,390 people. The active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan stand at 37,080, while 430,113 people have recovered from the virus so far.

On Tuesday Pakistan reported its first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus variant found in the UK after it identified the strain in three samples taken from passengers who had returned from the United Kingdom (UK). The development came as Pakistan extended a ban on UK flights till January 4.

The new strain, referred to by some experts as the B.1.17 lineage, is not the first variant of COVID-19 pandemic, but it is said to be up to 70-pc more transmissible than the previously dominant strain in the UK.

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