Should we worry about the new Covid-19 variant?

There has been a new and concerning development with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Bangladesh. Health officials at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) revealed on Tuesday that at least 5 cases of the UK coronavirus variant (N501Y.V1) were found in the country in January, with the first case occurring on January 5. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is now conducting contact tracing to get more details on the spread of this variant. Meanwhile, there has been a spike in the Covid-19 infection rate recently, with the rate being 5.13 percent on Tuesday—from 4.98 percent on Monday and 4.3 percent on Sunday, according to DGHS data. Adding to our alarm is the fact that there has been also a drop in the number of people being vaccinated.

This disconcerting series of developments comes at a time when the nation is preparing to reopen all schools and colleges on March 30, and the universities at a later stage soon afterwards. The UK variant has been found to spread more rapidly than other variants of the virus and may even be more infectious to children, according to scientists at the UK's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). While it cannot be concluded for certain that it is this variant that is causing the recent surge in infections in Bangladesh, IEDCR representatives believe that the government should conduct genome sequencing—although the process is expensive—to trace mutations in the virus at regular intervals.

We fully agree with the health minister's advice for people to maintain social distancing and wear masks, no matter what the variant is. But we also believe that it is the responsibility of all organisations, public and private, to ensure that those they are responsible for (employees, students, etc.) are following these guidelines rigorously. As the high summer months of April through June approach, we must all be more vigilant as the past year set a precedent of the infection rate being higher during that season.

Now that we are aware of this new variant's spread, the seven-day quarantine mandated for UK air travellers by the health ministry in December last year should also be imposed even more strictly. Vaccinations are taking place across the country now, but they should not be our main form of prevention. We believe that just as the government should do more to promote the Covid-19 vaccines (especially in rural areas) and to implement other preventative measures more strictly, it is also the responsibility of all organisations and individuals to practice these precautions on their own and to raise awareness about them wherever possible.