Omicron surges: 22 more new cases detected, tally rises to 55

Amid the global concern over the surge of Omicron, a fast-spreading strain of coronavirus, 22 more cases of the new variant were reported in Bangladesh, pushing the total tally to 55 till Sunday, according to GISAID, the global database for genomic data on the coronavirus.

These new cases were detected at the virology laboratory of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, (icddr,b). The icddr,b shared the report with the GISAID on Sunday.

Earlier, three Omicron cases were detected in the country on January 10 and the first two cases were detected in two members of the Bangladesh women cricket team on December 11.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh logged eight more Covid-linked deaths with 5,222 more infections in 24 hours till Sunday morning.

The fresh numbers took the country’s total Covid-linked fatalities to 28,144 while the caseload to 16, 17,711 on Sunday.

In the wake of the evolving situation, Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, director general of health directorate, called a press conference to brief the media about the country’s overall coronavirus situation.

During the press conference to be held at the DGHS around 3pm, Khurshid Alam will talk to the media about the government’s next course of action programme, preparedness of the health department and hospitals and to fight the pandemic of the virus.

The death and case positivity rate of the virus increased to 61 percent and 222 percent in the last seven days respectively compared to the previous week.