Confirmed case of IndianCovid-19 variant strain has been detected in Bangladesh, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) confirmed on Saturday.
Chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir said the Indian strain was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in the capital Dhaka and has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID).
Earlier on May 3, the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) said it will be confirmed within a few days whether the highly contagious Indian variant of Covid-19 has already reached Bangladesh or not as an investigation is underway in this regard.
DGHS spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam in a virtual press brieffing said, “We will get to knowt in a few days whether the Indian strain has reached Bangladesh or not.”
He said the samples of those who tested positive for coronavirus after entering Bangladesh from India are being collected and are being sent for genome sequencing.
India’s crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections as it is tearing through the populous country with terrifying speed, depleting the supply of oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors.
India registered over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours till 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore.
Out of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.79 crore people have recovered.
With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh. At least 14 states are reporting cases in five figures. Maharashtra reported about 54,000 cases, Karnataka had nearly 49,000, while Kerala had over 38,000.
