80pc of Covid patients infected with delta variant: IEDCR

Eighty per cent of the Covid-19 patients have been recently infected with delta variant which is also known as Indian variant.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) revealed the statistics on Tuesday after analysing the genome sequence of infected people in last two months.

A German based organisation titled ‘Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)’ confirmed the existence of this variant in Bangladesh on 8 May 2021.

In the beginning, delta variant was called as Indian variant of Covid-19. Later, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed it as delta variant, which was first detected in India in October last year.

This variant is highly contagious and it can rapidly spread from one person to another. Due to this variant, the Covid-19 situation turns alarming in April and May in India.

Chief scientific officer ASM Alamgir told Prothom Alo that after analysing genome sequence, the delta variant has been found among 80 per cent of people infected with Covid-19 in May and June while 10 to 12 per cent of people are infected with the South African variant.

Bangladesh is experiencing the sudden surge of Covid-19 for days. To stem the transmission, countrywide strict restrictions will be imposed from Thursday morning.

The number of detected novel coronavirus cases in Bangladesh, according to the government, on Tuesday rose to 904,436 as 7,666 more cases were reported, after testing 31,982 samples, including rapid antigen tests, in the last 24 hours.

During that time 112 more Covid-19 patients died, raising the total deaths in the country to 14,388, said a press release of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Tuesday.

Bangladesh detected its first coronavirus patient on 8 March last year and recorded its first death in the disease on 18 March that year.