Lambda variant of COVID-19 found in Bangladesh

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh has detected the presence of the highly infectious Lambda variant of COVID-19 which was first identified in Peru last August and has spread to around 30 countries.

The variant has the potential of spreading rapidly and is termed a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The new variant was identified from a sample collected in March this year during genome sequencing by the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and Jahangirnagar University, officials said Monday.

“We have submitted the genome sequence report to Germany’s Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), which is tracking variants of the novel coronavirus, and it showed the result based on our research, BCSIR’s principal scientific officer, Salim Khan, told Anadolu Agency.

The new variant was found in the sample of a 49-year-old woman in the capital Dhaka, according to the sequencing.

The Lambda variant, believed to have originated in South America, has caused nearly 81% of the cases reported in Peru, according to reports.

Bangladesh on Monday reported 174 more coronavirus-related deaths and 6,959 new cases, taking the country’s death toll to 24,349 and the total number of confirmed infections to 1,425,861, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

-Bangladesh, China sign vaccine co-production deal

The Bangladeshi government signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Sinopharm and its local manufacturer Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for COVID-19 vaccine co-production in Bangladesh.

Under the MoU, the Sinopharm vaccine will be bottled, labelled and dispensed in Bangladesh, and the raw materials will be imported from China.

Bangladesh is expected to begin supplying the vaccine jabs in the next three months with a local production capacity of around 5 million doses per month, Bangladesh’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said at the MoU signing event held in Dhaka.

“Together, we will build a Great Wall against COVID-19,” Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said at the event.

“China believes that people's lives and health must always be the first priority, and they must not be preceded by economic, political or other interests. We must ensure they remain so and reject the rising vaccine nationalism,” he added.

Bangladesh has so far administered over 20 million vaccine doses to its citizens, including over 5 million second shots.