Will be clear soon whether Indian Covid-19 variant reached Bangladesh: DGHS

It will be confirmed within a few days whether the highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus is in Bangladesh or not, as an investigation is on in this regard, said Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) today.

"We may be able to confirm the matter in a few days," said DGHS spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam during a virtual press briefing today

He said the samples of those who tested positive for coronavirus after entering Bangladesh from India are being collected. "These samples are being sent for genome sequencing…we'll share them [results] with you immediately after receiving the report."

Replying to whether those who have taken the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine can take any other company's vaccine as second dose, he said they did not yet receive any specific advice from the World Health Organization and vaccine companies in this regard.

"There's some sort of politics and diplomacy around the world over vaccines. We want to be confident that we'll get the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and will complete the second dose with it," the DGHS spokesman said.