30 more die, 1,181 get Covid

Thirty people died of Covid-19 in the country in the 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, while India's health ministry reported the first eight cases of the mutated coronavirus strain in eight United Kingdom returnees.

In an attempt to keep at bay the new faster-spreading strain of novel coronavirus found in the UK two weeks ago, the Bangladesh government on Monday announced that every UK returnee would have to stay in institutional quarantine for 14 days, but decided to continue flights from the country.

Indian administration however suspended all flights from the UK with effect from midnight of December 23 till December 31, 2020.

Quoting the Indian health ministry, the India Times newspaper reported the mutated UK strain was detected in samples tested in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, in the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and one in National Institute of Virology, Pune and King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research in Chennai.

All these people have been kept in single-room isolation in designated health care facilities. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine.

Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family members and others, India's health ministry said in a press release.

The presence of the new UK variant has so far been reported in Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

The list of all the UK returnees has been shared by the Bureau of Immigration with states and all passengers who arrived between November 25 and December 20 are being tracked by the IDSP State Surveillance Units and District Surveillance Units.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh rose to 5,11,261 as the directorate general of health services (DGHS) reported 1,181 new cases in the 24 hours till 8:00 am yesterday.

Yesterday's deaths brings the total number of deaths to 7,509 and a death rate of 1.47 percent.

Against a total of 14,588 tests, the positivity rate was 8.1 percent and the total positivity rate was 15.98 percent.

A total of 1,245 Covid-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours.

The total number of recoveries rose to 4,54,563 and the recovery rate was 88.91 percent.

Among the 30 deceased, 19 were male.

One of the deceased was aged under 10 years, three were between 41 and 50, five between 51 and 60 and 21 were above 60 years, added the release.

The mutated coronavirus strain spreading in the UK is on average 56 percent more contagious, scientists have warned in a study. They have urged a fast vaccine rollout to help prevent more deaths.

The new variant, which emerged in southeast England in November, is likely to boost hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19 next year, according to the Centre for Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.