Some 93% of Chittagong’s Covid-19 patients in July were infected by the highly contagious Delta variant, according to a new study.
The statistical analysis follows a study conducted on 30 Covid-19 patients infected between July 1 and July 19 by collecting nasopharyngeal swab samples.
A team of researchers from Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) and Bangladesh Council of Science and Industry Research (BCSIR) revealed their findings on Friday.
The study also found that the Delta variant is equally spread in urban and rural areas of the district, said CVASU Vice-Chancellor Prof Gautam Buddha Das.
The researchers collected 15 samples from Chittagong city and 15 samples from several other upazilas in the district. Among the 30 patients, 12 were men and 18 women.
Also read - BSMMU: 98% of Bangladesh's Covid patients infected with Delta variant
The samples were then sent to the BCSIR lab where two researchers supervised the genome sequencing of the specimens.
The results showed that of the 30 samples, 28 were infected with the delta variant, which is 93% of the total.
Among them, 14 are from the city and 14 are from the upazilas. The other two were reported to be infected with the Alpha variant (UK) and the Wuhan variant of China.
The study found that of the total, 15 people who provided the samples were admitted to different hospitals for treatment.
While a study conducted in June found that only 2% of the Covid patients were infected with Indian delta variant in Chittagong that number soared to over 90% in July.
Earlier, the presence of the alpha (UK variants) and the beta (South African variants) was reported in the Chittagong region. Although the presence of the alpha variant is still there, its percentage is very low.
