Omicron sub variant dominant in Bangladesh since May : Report
Covid positivity rate nears 15%
The Omicron BA.2 sub variant of Covid-19 has been dominant in Bangladesh in the month of May including 1,280 cases as of 20 June 2022, a report said.
"About 9% BA.5 sub variant and 91% BA.2 sub variant of Omicron were found from running genome sequencing on samples collected between 1-31 May," said the report titled 'SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Bangladesh Technical Briefing Report: May 2022'.
The report was jointly prepared by the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr, b), Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi), Child Health Research Foundation (CHRF) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), five variants of concern (VOC) and two variants under monitoring (VUM) have been reported globally.
Omicron BA.5 variant was first reported in Bangladesh on 24 May 2022, the report said, adding that Omicron variant accounted for 100% from Covid-19 cases in the country from 1 to 31 May of this year.
No variant unique to Bangladesh has been detected yet, the report further added.
Because of the low positivity rate of Covid-19 across the country, less samples in May 2022 were contributed by the donor labs.
Therefore, the consortium was able to sequence only 11 samples collected between 1 to 31 May 2022. The samples were collected from six divisions.
The report said that the Omicron variant is the latest addition which has been designated as variants of concern in late November 2021 because of its transmissibility, immune system evasion, and vaccine resistance.
Covid cases increase with death toll
The country reported one death and 1,319 cases from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours till 8am Thursday.
Health officials recorded the positivity rate at 14.32% during the same period after testing 9,214 samples across the country.
Dr MH Chowdhury Lelin, Public Health Expert and Chairman Health and Hope Hospital told The Business Standard that the transmission n is rising fast due to the sub variant of Omicron. Everyone should wear mask and must take booster dose.
So far, 29,335 people have died and 19,60,528 tested positive for the virus in Bangladesh since 2020.
