Ninety-three percent of current Covid patients in Chattogram are infected with the highly contagious Delta variant, according to a survey by the Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU).

Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Science University (CVASU) gave this information to the media on Friday after unveiling the findings of a genome sequencing study.

Recently, CVASU and Bangladesh Council of Science and Industry Research (BCSIR) have jointly conducted the research, that sequenced the genomes of 30 specimen samples.

Twenty-eight out of 30 samples were revealed to be the Delta variant of Covid-19. One of the remaining two was the Alpha variant (UK) and the other with the Wuhan variant of China.

The researchers collected 15 samples from Chittagong city and 15 samples from several other upazilas in the district.  Among the 30 patients, 12 were men and 18 women.

Read: Bangladesh reports 248 more deaths as Delta variant keeps lashing

Researchers collected samples of 15 patients admitted to the hospital from July 1 to July 19 and 15 patients who did not come to the hospital.

It revealed the Delta variant (B.1. 617.2) is equally spread in cities and villages. Of the 30 covid patients, 14 were infected with Delta variants in the city and 14 infected with Delta variants outside the city.

They are from Hathazari, Mirsarai, Rangunia, Satkania, Anwara and Sandeep upazilas. There are six from Hathazari, four from Rangunia, one each from Mirsarai, Satkania, Anwara and Sandeep.

CVASU Vice-Chancellor Prof Gautam Buddha Das said seven teachers took part in the study entitled 'Health Risk Assessment of Covid-19 patients' under his leadership. BCSIR researchers and Poultry Research and Training Center (PRTC) cooperated in the study.

The Delta variant, identified first in India, is now playing havoc in Bangladesh.

Read: Delta variant Covid patients account for 98% in Bangladesh: BSMMU

When the Delta variant infects someone, the virus can multiply very quickly in the patient's body. As a result, the infected person also sheds large amounts of the virus through sneezing and coughs, which can easily infect others, said Prof Gautam Buddha Das.

On Thursday, a BSMMU survey revealed that ninety-eight percent of the Covid patients recently detected in Bangladesh are of the highly contagious Delta variant while just one percent is of South African Beta variant ones.

Although the sample sizes for these studies are relatively small, in sum they confirm that Delta is now the dominant  strain of SARS COV-2 in Bangladesh.