7 cases of Indian Covid-19 variant detected in Dhaka district's Nawabganj: health authorities

Health authorities have detected cases of Indian Covid-19 variant in seven workers of Ashrayan Project in Nawabganj upazila of Dhaka district.

Upazila Health Officer Dr Mohammad Shahidul Islam said last night that 10 workers who came from Chapainawabganj district were tested for coronavirus and seven of them were detected with the Indian variant.

On May 18, the 10 workers came to join Matabpur Ashrayan Project at Nawabganj's Keilile union. They all came in a truck along with 63 others.

As some of them had cough, cold and fever, the authorities asked them on May 23 to provide their samples for Covid-19 tests but they refused to do so.

On May 25, a separate medical team was formed and it collected samples from some of the workers. After laboratory tests, the results of 10 workers came positive for Covid-19.

Apprehending the existence of the Indian variant, the medical team sent the samples of the Covid-19 patients to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Dhaka where seven, out of the 10, were detected with the Indian variant on June 3.

Now all the patients are undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH), Dhaka.

"It's a dangerous sign and all of them have been asked to follow the government's health safety protocols," said Dr Shahidul.

The highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus was detected in Bangladesh for the first time on May 8.

Experts fear that Bangladesh may face the worst outbreak of the deadly virus by the end of June.

Bangladesh closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargo on April 26 which was later extended till June 14 to control the spread of coronavirus as the situation in the neighbouring country deteriorated.