Bangladesh has issued an alert on all ports across the country following the following the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, in South Africa and several other countries.
“The World Health Organization has already termed Omicron a variant of concern and we remain alert on it,” director (disease control and line) of Directorate General of Health Services Md Nazmul Islam said at the regular briefing in Dhaka on Sunday.
Nazmul Islam said ports have been instructed to strengthen their security measures.
At the briefing, the senior health official said the rate of Covid-19 detection dropped below 2 per cent in the country in the last 30 days.
“But we have no reason for complacence in this situation and there is no alternative to maintaining health rules and wearing masks,” Nazmul Hasan added.
A variant of novel coronavirus detected in South Africa on 23 November. The new variant was reported also in Botswana, Israel, Hong Kong, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
WHO named the new coronavirus variant Omicron and declared it to be "of concern".
Experts suspect the new variant is more contagious than other variants detected previously but they are yet to be certain whether Omicron is more dangerous.