Bangladesh reports 3 more omicron cases

Bangladesh has reported three more cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus after the new variant was first detected earlier this month.

The total number of Omicron cases in the country stands at seven as of Wednesday morning, according to the data released from Germany in the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), an international database organisation for the virus.

The country first reported the Omicron variant on 11 December after two Bangladesh women cricketers, who were infected by the variant, returned from Zimbabwe.

The two women cricketers – 21 and 30 years old – are currently in quarantine at a hotel in the capital. Reportedly, both of them have recovered and will be able to return home soon.

According to a source close to the IEDCR, they have tested negative for the Omicron variety.

The third and fourth cases were reported in the last two days, 27-28 December.

One of them is a woman aged 33 and resides in Dhaka. The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) collected her sample on 20 December and later sent the data to GISAID. 

The other one is a 56-year old male and a resident of Dhaka, whose sample was collected on 23 December. 

Experts have called for getting more vigilant at the border and outside the border of the country to contain the spread of the new variant.

The Bangladesh government has recently made 14 days of institutional quarantine mandatory for those returning from seven African countries which have detected Omicron.

The current Covid-19 positivity rate was recorded at 2.10% with 397 more new cases reported on 28 December after testing 18 thousand 938 samples across the country.

Meanwhile, the death toll reached 28,062 and the case tally increased to 15 lakh 84 thousand 23 in the country.

The country's maiden cases were reported on 8 March last year and the first death from the virus was reported on 18 March.