98 per cent of Bangladesh’s Covid patients are infected with Delta variant: Official
FILE PHOTO: A medical specialist wearing a protective suit collects a swab sample from a traveller who has returned from Da Nang, at a testing center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Hanoi, Vietnam August 10, 2020. REUTERS/Kham. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
DHAKA, Aug 5, 2021, Dhaka Tribune. Some 98% of Bangladesh’s Covid-19 patients are infected by the highly contagious Delta variant, according to a new study, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Making the disclosure in a press release on Thursday, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) said the results were found after genome sequencing swab samples collected from 300 Covid-19 positive patients across the country.
Quoting BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Sharfuddin Ahmed, also the genome sequencing research supervisor, it said this was the initial one month’s result of the research, which will continue.
The research was conducted from June 29 to July 30.
The press release said that in January this year presence of the UK variant of the novel coronavirus among the infected persons was high. In March, the South African variant (B.1.351) took the place.
In the last month’s result, they found that 98% of the patients were infected by the Delta variant and 1% by the South African variant.
The newfound Nigerian variant (B.1.525) was found in only one patient’s sample.
The Delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, has spread fast recently across Bangladesh wreaking havoc, as it has done around the world.
According to the first-month findings of the research, the mortality rate is higher among patients with comorbidities, i.e. diabetes, cancer, respiratory and lung diseases.
Also, patients aged 60 and above are more likely to fall victim to Covid-19 if they happen to contract it for the second time.
Determining the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines is still under investigation.
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