Bangladesh has so far completed sequencing 500 genome samples of the SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19), said Dr Md Ahsan Habib, Principal Scientific Officer of BCSIR, on Tuesday.
Speaking at a program as the guest of honour in Shahid Sukanta Abdullah Auditorium in Agailjhara, Barisal, the BCSIR official revealed the information, reports Bangla Tribune.
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Dr Md Ahsan said: "The coronavirus frequently changes its genes inside the human body. Due to this the invention of an effective vaccine is being delayed. Data collected from genome sequencing will help scientists in this regard."
The program -- a demonstration of locally invented technologies and a seminar on the implications of such technologies and its expansion -- was organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the BCSIR.
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Agailjhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Abul Hashem Mondal presided over the program, while the district's Deputy Commissioner SM Ajior Rahman was present as the chief guest.
On May 30, BCSIR decoded the genome of coronavirus samples collected from three local citizens, which strongly indicated that the virus arrived in Bangladesh from Europe, scientists said.
Also Read - Chinese scientists claim coronavirus originated in India, Bangladesh
Earlier in August, a research team from the NSU Genome Research Institute (NGRI) of North South University completed the sequencing of eight SARS-CoV-2 samples. They said that their research suggested that the virus had arrived in Bangladesh from the United States.
Recently, a team of researchers from China’s Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences claimed that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus existed in India and Bangladesh long before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan in December last year.
