South Africa Covid variant found in Bangladesh 

Bangladesh has found existence of the new coronavirus strain similar to South African variant.

The evidence of this existence was found on 6 February, reports Prothom Alo. 

Several sources have confirmed that the strain was found in a sample collected from a 58-year-old woman in capital's Banani.

News of the South African strain in Bangladesh has already been published on Germany's Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GSAID) website.

The research team of the Genomic Research Laboratory of the Bangladesh Council of Science and Industry (BCSIR) has also confirmed the matter of founding this strain in Bangladesh.

According to a BBC report published on 23 February, there is no conclusive evidence that the South African strain has infected more people and made them seriously ill.

However, such viruses spread quickly and the vaccine does not work well against this strain.

Besides, the highly contagious UK variant of Covid-19 has also been identified in Bangladesh, according to Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). 

According to  IEDCR sources, the virus was first found in 5-6 UK returnees in January. However, they were kept in quarantine and they made recovery. 

According to the World Health Organization, this new variant has found in 83 countries around the world. This new strain of coronavirus found in the UK is even more contagious.

It said the new strain could be 70 percent more contagious than the previous strain. It has spread rapidly in the UK since it was first identified last September.

What's happening to the virus?

The UK, South Africa and Brazil variants could be much more contagious or easy to catch.

All three have undergone changes to their spike protein - the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

As a result, they seem to be better at infecting cells and spreading.

Experts think the UK or "Kent" strain emerged in September and may be up to 70% more transmissible or infectious. The latest research by Public Health England puts it between 30% and 50%.

The South Africa variant emerged in October, and has more potentially important changes in the spike protein. Experts recently found a small number of cases of the UK variant that have one of these more concerning changes too.

It involves a key mutation - called E484K - that may help the virus evade parts of the immune system, called antibodies, that can fight coronavirus based on experience from prior infection or a vaccine