Bangladesh has decided to further extend the closure of the land border with India for 14 more days in view of the COVID situation in India. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in Dhaka on Saturday.Bangladesh has decided to further extend the closure of the land border with India for 14 more days in view of the COVID situation in India. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in Dhaka on Saturday.
The officials of the premier medical research organisation of Bangladesh Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) told the media that the development has been reported to the GISAID database which promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19.
The Indian variant is officially known as B.1.617. It was first detected in India in October. Scientists are still researching if this variant is more infectious or resistant to vaccines, reports BBC. Bangladesh reported 45 deaths and 1285 fresh Corona positive cases in the country on Saturday. With this the total number of infections has gone up to 7.72 lakh and the death toll has reached 11,878. The sample positivity rate in the country was reported at 8.74 percent.
Bangladesh is currently under lockdown which has been slowly relaxed since it was first imposed on April 5. Life in the capital city Dhaka seems to be running at normal pace with shops, malls and markets witnessing the usual crowd of people coming for pre-Eid shopping. Despite restrictions on the movement of inter-district buses and suspension of train services, a large number of people were leaving Dhaka for their villages and home towns using various means available.
