Bangladesh on Saturday confirmed first two cases of Omicron infection in the bodies of two women cricketers who recently visited Zimbabwe on official tour.
‘The infected women cricketers are in quarantine and they are in good health,’ said health minister Zahid Maleque after inaugurating the nationwide Vitamin A campaign in the morning.
The growth of Omicron, the variant of the coronavirus detected in South Africa last month, in the bodies of the women cricketers are being regularly monitored.
‘It may take two more weeks for the women cricketers to recover,’ said the minister.
The health ministry was busy contract tracing the Omicron spread, he said.
The spread of Omicron has given rise to the fear of fresh Covid-19 outbreaks with scientists saying that the variant is the result of monstrous mutations.
The World Health Organisation has dubbed the variant as the ‘variant of concern.’
Health experts however believe Omicron is less deadly than the Delta variant.
Bangladesh confirmed first infection by the Delta variant, first detected in India, in early May.
The Delta caused the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the country since the coronavirus was first detected in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020.
The Delta variant caused test positivity rate to hover around 30 per cent for over a month before the outbreak finally waned in August.
Over 28,000 people have died because of Covid-19 in Bangladesh.
