India’s neighbours- Sri Lanka and Bangladesh- have reported the first cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus, also known as B.1.617, prompting authorities to exercise caution to contain its spread.
Bangladesh overnight detected six people, who had recently visited India, infected with the Indian variant of the Covid-19, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) spokesman Professor Dr Nazmul Islam Munna said on Saturday.
Out of the six people, two were detected in the national capital Dhaka. All of them are currently kept under quarantine.
“Six people have been found to be carrying the Indian variant so far and we expect more people to be detected with identical types of virus in the coming days,” Munna told PTI.
“This development means we in Bangladesh need extreme caution, perfect compliance of health guidelines... If we maintain the guidelines, no variant — deadly or not — can cause major problems,” Munna said. Following the detection of the Indian variant, Bangladesh on Saturday extended the closure of land borders with India for 14 more days.