Sixty-nine percent of the Omicron cases detected in Bangladesh have been reported from Dhaka, says Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
He disclosed the statistics, found after testing samples from new Covid patients in Dhaka, while speaking to the media at the Secretariat on Sunday.
The minister citing genome sequencing data within Dhaka said that the percentage was as low as 13% at least 10 days ago. “We believe the rate will be similar outside Dhaka as well.”
Saying that the Delta and Omicron cases were, “growing by leaps and bounds,” Maleque added that given the positivity rate of nearly 18% in the last 15 days, it will not be long before the rate crosses 30%.
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The health minister fears that if the current trend continues, the hospitals will not be able to accommodate anymore patients.
With the growing caseload that is again threatening to overwhelm the health sector, the health minister urged everyone to comply with health rules and maintain social distancing measures.
Omicron cases now 55
As of Monday, 55 Omicron cases have been detected in Bangladesh, according to GISAID, the global database for genomic data on the coronavirus.
On January 10, three new Omicron cases were detected in the country.
On December 11, Bangladesh reported its first two cases of the Omicron variant in two members of the Bangladesh women cricket team.
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They had returned from Zimbabwe after taking part in the ICC Women's World Cup qualifiers. The event was, however, called off midway due to the surge of Omicron.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh logged eight more Covid-linked deaths with 5,222 more infections in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
With the fresh cases reported after testing 29,642 samples, the daily positivity rate increased to 17.82 per cent.