How prepared are we to tackle the new Covid variant?

Bangladesh in recent times saw zero Covid deaths and the least number of infections after a long time. Amid this, the outbreak of the deadly virus’s new variant, Omicron, is worrying. The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern over the news of the new variant found in South Africa and Botswana. The new variant’s scientific name is B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2.

Experts suspect the newly found virus is eight to ten-fold deadlier than the previous Delta variant. Questions arose whether the old vaccines would be able to fight this new variant. WHO called for a meeting at Geneva to discuss the risks of the new variant.

WHO believes people previously suffered from Covid may be affected by the new type, Omicron. Countries have been instructed to increase monitoring, introduce genome sequencing to trace the type, report to the WHO if the variant traced and building awareness among people about the new variant and its risks.

Countries across the world already started taking measures to contain the variant. UK, Singapore and Japan emphasize on quarantine as well as stopping flights with South Africa and adjacent countries. European Union (EU) also proposed to close flights with African countries including South Africa. BBC reports, WHO stresses on risk-wise scientific method to combat Covid. According to UK health organisation, the new variant has been found in Botswana and Hongkong.

What is to be done at this moment? Health minister Zahid Maleque said, “We are aware of the South African variant. We learned this type is very aggressive. We immediately stopped all communications with South Africa.”

National Technical Advisory Committee also recommended closing air routes with these countries. But closing flights with the countries is not the only solution. We already know the virus can spread very fast and the variant has already been traced in many other countries.

Omicron has already spread in several countries other than South Africa and Botswana. The new variant cannot be contained by closing flights with countries only. Anyone affected by the new type of Covid can come to Bangladesh from other countries.

Therefore, our first duty will be to increase screening at all entrances, including airports, to ensure institutional quarantine of arrivals. At the same time, it must be ensured that they do not come in contact with any people inside the country. Delta type spread rapidly within the country due to lack of contact tracing at the entry and lax quarantine.

On the other hand, despite various initiatives of the government, the overall situation of vaccination in Bangladesh is disappointing. Only 20-22 per cent of the population has been inoculated so far, although the government's target was 80 percent. Fast genome sequencing must be ensured to identify the variant.

Procurement of vaccines should be increased immediately. The laxity that is being noticed among the people of all strata in complying with the hygiene rules must also be addressed. In addition to civic awareness, all institutions and organisations should also come forward in following the hygiene rules.