Picture used for illustrative purpose only.+

Authorities in Pakistan have detected the first case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in the South Asian nation, a provincial health ministry official told Reuters on Thursday.

The spokesperson in the southern province of Sindh said the infection was found in an unvaccinated patient being treated at a private hospital in Pakistan's most populous city of Karachi.

The patient had travelled abroad, said the official, who gave no details of the location, but added that contact tracing was underway.