UK variant of coronavirus found in Bangladesh, but hasn’t spread: IEDCR

Revealing that the authorities had detected several cases of the more contagious coronavirus variant first found in Britain, the government’s disease control agency says the new strain has not spread in Bangladesh.

All of the five to six people detected with the new variant, known as B.1.1.7, had travelled from the UK in early January, ASM Alamgir, chief scientific officer at the IEDCR, said on Wednesday.

“We’ve run contact tracing that confirmed no one in Bangladesh was infected by them. We’ve seen no such thing in Bangladesh as the quick spread of the UK variant in Britain,” he added.

He also said the authorities have continued genome sequencing of the swab samples from those who are testing positive for COVID-19 after travelling to Bangladesh from the UK.

The B.1.1.7 variant was first detected in Britain in September 2020, and has since been found in more than 100 countries.

It has 23 mutations in its genetic code - a relatively high number of changes - and some of these have made it far more able to spread.

UK scientists say it is about 40 percent to 70 percent  more transmissible than previously dominant circulating coronavirus variants.

Citing a UK study, published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, Reuters said the highly infectious variant of COVID-19 is between 30 percent and 100 percent deadlier than previous strains.