Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research have identified a variant of COVID-19 that is also defined by two spike protein mutations similar to that of the UK variant.
The detection leads to enhanced epidemiological and virological investigations, but still the Bangladeshi variant is not found as highly contagious as the UK variant, BCSIR principal scientific officer and genomic research lab head Salim Khan told New Age.
In the sample collected in October, the BCSIR genomic research lab found that the new variant of the SARS-COV-2, which causes COVID-19, is also defined by two of the multiple spike protein mutations detected in the UK variant.
The spike protein mutations are P681H and D1118H, Salim said.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s disease assessment brief on December 20, the new variant is defined by the spike protein mutations of deletion 69-70, deletion 144, N501Y, A570D, D614G, P681H, T716I, S982A and D1118H.
The new variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in England, raising international alarms as the variant is more contagious than previous versions of the virus.
While it is known and expected that viruses constantly change through mutation leading to the emergence of new variants, preliminary analysis in the UK suggests that this variant is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the reproductive number (R) by 0.4 or greater with an estimated increased transmissibility of up to 70 per cent.
Selim Khan said that although they found the spike protein mutations in November, they only revisited their findings after the UK variant created global uproar.
‘But, he said, ‘our variant is not that much contagious.’
‘The variant is present in Bangladesh since October but we have not noticed the spike in the COVID-19 cases in our country,’ he added.
In a study conducted by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, the government’s disease monitoring arm, and disseminated in November showed that 19 distinct SARS-COV-2 lineages or descendants were spreading in Bangladesh.
The three main localised lineages found in Bangladesh were B.1.1, B.1.1.25 and B.1.36.
Lineages B.1.1 and B.1.1.25 spread to all the eight divisions of the country but B.1.36 was confined mostly to Chattogram division, the study found.
Lead researcher Tahmina Shirin, also director of the IEDCR, said that the study found that COVID-19 was imported to Bangladesh in mid-February and the virus spread all over the country by March.
The genomic data supports the multiple international importation of SARS-COV-2 from India, Saudi Arabia, the USA and the UK, she said.
Selim Khan said that the new variant, detected in Bangladesh, has similarity with that of variants detected in Peru.
‘It is assumed that the new variant has not become dominant in Bangladesh, but we have started enhanced epidemiological and virological investigations,’ he said.
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