Sonamsjid land port authorities have taken additional cautionary measures to prevent the spread of Omicron BF.7, a new sub-variant of Covid-19. Following the instruction of the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) some additional measures have been taken to prevent the new sub-variant of Covid-19, said Dr. SM Mahmudur Rashid, civil surgeon of Chapainawabganj. Indian truck drivers and their helpers are being allowed to enter the country through the border after health screening, he added. Besides, the members of the medical teams are doing their routine works at the port, Rashid said. Earlier on Sunday, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) issued an alert at airports, land ports and seaports as the new sub-variant BF.7 of Omicron was detected in China and India. It also asked the authorities concerned to take steps so that people, coming from those countries, go through tests and digital thermal scanner and thermometer are used at the entry points of the country. Meanwhile, four returnees from China were sent to isolation after they tested positive for Covid-19 at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka Monday (December 26) afternoon.      

World health officials are offering hope that the ebbing of the omicron wave could give way to a new, more manageable phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as they warn of difficult weeks ahead and the possibility of another, more dangerous variant arising - as reports emerged of a new version of the variant in some countries. In the U.S., cases have crested and are dropping rapidly, following a pattern seen in Britain and South Africa, with researchers projecting a period of low spread in many countries by the end of March. Though U.S. deaths — now at 2,000 each day — are still rising, new hospital admissions have started to fall, and a drop in deaths is expected to follow. The encouraging trends after two years of coronavirus misery have brought a noticeably hopeful tone from health experts. Rosy predictions have crumbled before, but this time they are backed by what could be called omicron’s silver lining: The highly contagious variant will leave behind extremely high levels of immunity. On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci talked on ABC “This Week” about a “best-case scenario” where COVID-19 would fall to manageable levels so the United States could get “back to a degree of normality.” And on Monday, the World Health Organization issued a statement anticipating an end to the “emergency phase” of the pandemic this year and saying that the omicron variant “offers plausible hope for stabilization and normalization.” Both Fauci and the WHO’s Europe regional director, Dr. Hans Kluge, cautioned that new variants are likely to emerge, but with vaccination, new drug therapies and — during surges — testing and masks, the world could reach a less disruptive level of disease in which the virus is, as Fauci put it, “essentially integrated into the general respiratory infections that we have learned to live with.” In the U.S., new cases are averaging a still extraordinarily high 680,000 a day, down from an all-time peak of over 800,000 a little more than a week ago. The places in the U.S. where omicron struck first are seeing the sharpest declines. New cases in the Northeast are nose-diving, while other states — Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Kansas and North Dakota among them — are still waiting for relief. Falling, too, are new U.S. hospital admissions of patients with confirmed COVID-19. They are averaging nearly 20,000 per day, down about 7% from the previous week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those numbers include patients who went to the hospital for other reasons and tested positive. But even after accounting for these incidental infections, the trend is hopeful. One influential model projects that nearly all nations will be past the omicron wave by mid-March, including China and other countries with “zero COVID” policies. The wave will leave behind high levels of immunity — both from infection and vaccination — that could lead to low levels of transmission for many weeks or months. “What do we end up with at the end of this?” said Dr. Christopher Murray of the University of Washington, who developed the closely watched Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model. “We end up with the highest levels of global immunity that we’ve seen in the pandemic.” The model estimates that 57% of the world’s population already has been infected with the virus at least once. Another research group, which combines several models and shares the projections with the White House, predicts a strong decline in U.S. infections by April, unless a new variant emerges that can sidestep the growing levels of immunity. “It would be dangerous to forget that possibility, as it has caught us before,” said Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University, a leader of the team that pulls together the models. She noted, too, that the projections show 16,000 to 98,000 more Americans dying before the omicron wave is through. The U.S. death toll stands at close to 870,000. “Even if we project a more optimistic future, right now we still have a lot of COVID spreading, a lot of strain in our hospital systems, and our deaths have not yet peaked,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. READ: Taking Omicron lightly may cause great damage, warns Health Minister “There’s still a lot of pain before omicron has run its course,” she said, but added: “It’s very plausible that omicron will be a turning point in terms of our relationship with this virus.” New version not a cause for alarm A new version of the highly contagious omicron variant been spreading in parts of Asia and Europe, with the WHO recommending Monday that officials begin investigating its characteristics to determine whether it poses new challenges for pandemic-weary nations. Known as BA. 2, the new version of the virus is a descendant of the omicron variant. Virologists are referring to the original omicron variant as BA. 1. "The BA. 2 descendant lineage, which differs from BA. 1 in some of the mutations, including in the spike protein, is increasing in many countries," the WHO wrote on its website. "Investigations into the characteristics of BA. 2, including immune escape properties and virulence, should be prioritized independently (and comparatively) to BA. 1." Viruses mutate constantly, mostly in harmless ways. There is no current evidence that BA. 2 is more virulent, spreads faster or escapes immunity better than BA. 1. BA. 2 has been detected in India, Denmark and Britain, among other countries, according to health officials and media reports abroad. In Europe, it appears the most widespread in Denmark, but that may be because the Scandinavian nation has a robust program of sequencing the virus's genome. At least three cases have been found in the United States at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, which also is studying the genetic makeup of virus samples from its patients. READ: 5 more Omicron cases detected in Bangladesh Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, "Although the BA.2 lineage has recently increased in proportion in some countries, it remains a very low proportion of circulating viruses in the United States and globally. Currently, there are insufficient data to determine whether the BA.2 lineage is more transmissible or has a fitness advantage over the BA.1 lineage. CDC continues to monitor variants that are circulating both domestically and internationally."

How can I protect myself from the new omicron variant? The same way you guard against COVID-19 caused by any other variant: Get vaccinated if you haven’t yet, get a booster if you’re eligible and step up other precautions you may have relaxed, like wearing a mask and avoiding crowds. READ: India's Omicron cases rise to 21 For all the attention omicron is getting, the overwhelming cause of infections and deaths in many places remains the extra-contagious delta variant. “Delta is the real risk right now. Omicron is an uncertain threat,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, told The Associated Press. Regardless of the coronavirus type, Collins said “we do know what to do.” It will take a few weeks to learn key aspects about this latest variant, including whether it’s more contagious, causes more severe illness or evades immunity -- and if so, how by much. In the meantime, “what we need to do is add more layers of protection,” says Dr. Julie Vaishampayan of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. That’s especially important with holiday travel and gatherings around the corner. READ: Nepal reports first cases of omicron variant A booster shot is one of those layers. The added dose triggers a big jump in virus-fighting antibodies. Even if the antibodies don’t prove quite as effective against omicron as they are against other variants, simply having more of them might compensate -- in addition to bolstering protection against delta. In addition to masking, avoiding crowds and improving ventilation, testing is another protective step. That’s recommended for anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms or was potentially exposed to the virus. But it also could help ensure safety before holiday gatherings, even if everyone attending has been vaccinated, Vaishampayan says.

The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scrambling to stop the spread. The U.K. on Saturday tightened its rules on mask-wearing and on testing of international arrivals after finding two cases. New cases were confirmed Saturday in Germany and Italy, with Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong also reporting that the variant has been found in travelers. In the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, said he would not be surprised if the omicron variant was already in the United States, too. “We have not detected it yet, but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of transmissibility ... it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over,” Fauci said on NBC television. Because of fears that the new variant has the potential to be more resistant to the protection offered by vaccines, there are growing concerns around the world that the pandemic and associated lockdown restrictions will persist for far longer than hoped. Nearly two years since the start of the pandemic that has claimed more than 5 million lives around the world, countries are on high alert. Many have already imposed travel restrictions on flights from southern Africa as they seek to buy time to assess whether the omicron variant is more transmissible than the current dominant delta variant. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was necessary to take “targeted and precautionary measures” after two people tested positive for the new variant in England. “Right now this is the responsible course of action to slow down the seeding and the spread of this new variant and to maximize our defenses,” he told a news conference. Among the measures announced, Johnson said anyone arriving in England must take a PCR test for COVID-19 on the second day after their arrival and self-isolate until they provide a negative test. And if someone tests positive for the omicron variant, then he said their close contacts will have to self-isolate for 10 days regardless of their vaccination status — currently close contacts are exempt from quarantine rules if they are fully vaccinated. READ: Philippines extends travel ban on Bangladesh, 9 other countries as Delta variant spreads  He also said mask-wearing in shops and on public transport will be required and said the independent group of scientists that advises the British government on the rollout of coronavirus vaccines has been asked to accelerate the vaccination program. This could involve widening the booster program to younger age groups, reducing the time period between a second dose and a booster and allowing older children to get a second dose. “From today we’re going to boost the booster campaign," he said. Britain's Department of Health said the two cases found in the U.K. were linked and involved travel from southern Africa. One of the two new cases was in the southeastern English town of Brentwood, while the other was in the central city of Nottingham. The two confirmed cases are self-isolating with their households while contact tracing and targeted testing takes place. The British government also added four more countries — Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia — onto the country's travel red list from Sunday. Six others — Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe — were added Friday. That means anyone permitted to arrive from those destinations will have to quarantine. Many countries have slapped restrictions on various southern African countries over the past couple of days, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Thailand and the United States, in response to warnings over the transmissibility of the new variant. This goes against the advice of the World Health Organization, which has warned against any overreaction before the variant was thoroughly studied. Despite the banning of flights, there are mounting concerns that the variant has already been widely seeded around the world. Italy and Germany were the latest to report confirmed cases of the omicron variant. An Italian who had traveled to Mozambique on business landed in Rome on Nov. 11 and returned to his home near Naples. He and five family members, including two school-age children, have since tested positive, the Italian news agency LaPresse said. All are isolating in the Naples suburb of Caserta in good condition with light symptoms. The variant was confirmed by Sacco hospital in Milan, and Italy’s National Health Institute said the man had received two doses of the vaccine. Italy’s health ministry is urging all regions to increase its tracing of the virus and sequencing to detect cases of the new variant first identified in South Africa. In Germany, the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, a Munich-based microbiology center, said the omicron variant was confirmed in two travelers who arrived on a flight from South Africa on Nov. 24. The head of the institute, Oliver Keppler, said that genome sequencing has yet to be completed, but it is “proven without doubt that it is this variant,” German news agency dpa reported. The Dutch public health institute said the omicron variant was “probably found in a number of the tested persons” who were isolated after arriving Friday in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa. The institute said in a statement that further sequencing analysis is underway to determine for sure that it is the new variant. The results were expected Sunday. A total of 61 people were tested. Israel said it detected the new strain in a traveler who had returned from Malawi and was tracing 800 travelers who returned recently from southern African countries. And Australia said early Sunday its scientists were working to determine whether two people who tested positive for COVID after arriving from southern Africa are infected with the omicron variant. The variant’s swift spread among young people in South Africa has alarmed health professionals even though there was no immediate indication whether the variant causes more severe disease. A number of pharmaceutical firms, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer, said they have plans in place to adapt their vaccines in light of the emergence of omicron. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said they expect to be able to tweak their vaccine in around 100 days. Professor Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, which developed the AstraZeneca vaccine, expressed cautious optimism that existing vaccines could be effective at preventing serious disease from the omicron variant, noting that most of the mutations appear to be in similar regions as those in other variants. “At least from a speculative point of view we have some optimism that the vaccine should still work against a new variant for serious disease, but really we need to wait several weeks to have that confirmed," he told BBC radio. Some experts said the variant’s emergence illustrated how rich countries’ hoarding of vaccines threatens to prolong the pandemic. Fewer than 6% of people in Africa have been fully immunized against COVID-19, and millions of health workers and vulnerable populations have yet to receive a single dose. Those conditions can speed up spread of the virus, offering more opportunities for it to evolve into a dangerous variant. “One of the key factors to emergence of variants may well be low vaccination rates in parts of the world, and the WHO warning that none of us is safe until all of us are safe and should be heeded," said Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London.   READ: Covid’s new variant: Bangladesh plans to ban flights with South Africa U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, and they stressed the importance of working together to help African nations vaccinate their populations, the State Department said in a statement. It said Blinken praised South Africa's scientists for quickly identifying the omicron variant and the government for its transparency in sharing this information, “which should serve as a model for the world.”

Expressing concern over the new Covid variant, ‘Omicron’, the government has planned to suspend flights with South Africa, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.  “The (health) ministry is aware of the new variant and directives have already been given to take necessary steps to tackle it in Bangladesh and the authorities concerned of the health sector have been asked to remain alert,” he said. The minister came up with the information in an audio message while going to Geneva on Saturday to participate in the ‘World Health Assembly Second Special Session’.  Terming the new variant as ‘aggressive’, Zahid urged all not to panic and maintain the health protocol strictly. “The authorities concerned at our airports and land ports have been asked to strengthen screening while people entering the country,” he said. READ: What is this new COVID variant in South Africa? Besides, the minister said, the deputy commissioners concerned have been asked to take steps to ensure the use of masks and abiding by health guidelines by people. New Covid variant South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus this week that they say is behind a recent spike in Covid-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It is not clear yet where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa earlier alerted the World Health Organization and it has now been seen in travellers to Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel, reports news agency AP. In a statement on Friday, the WHO designated it as a “variant of concern,” naming it “Omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet. After convening a group of experts to assess the data, the UN health agency said “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,” as compared to other variants. READ: World races to contain new COVID threat, the omicron variant “The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa,” the WHO said. Meanwhile, South Africa said imposing restrictions on travellers from the country because of a newly identified Covid-19 variant was unjustified.

WHAT IS THIS NEW COVID-19 VARIANT? South African scientists identified a new version of the coronavirus this week that they say is behind a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Gauteng, the country’s most populous province. It’s unclear where the new variant first emerged, but scientists in South Africa first alerted the World Health Organization and it has now been seen in travelers to Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel. Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the variant was linked to an “exponential rise” of cases in the last few days, although experts are still trying to determine if the new variant is actually responsible. From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to 2,465 on Thursday. Struggling to explain the sudden rise in cases, scientists studied virus samples from the outbreak and discovered the new variant. In a statement on Friday, the WHO designated it as a “variant of concern,” naming it “omicron” after a letter in the Greek alphabet. After convening a group of experts to assess the data, the U.N. health agency said that “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,” as compared to other variants. “The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa,” the WHO said. WHY ARE SCIENTISTS WORRIED ABOUT THIS NEW VARIANT? It appears to have a high number of mutations — about 30 — in the coronavirus’ spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people. Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain at the University of Cambridge, said the data so far suggest the new variant has mutations “consistent with enhanced transmissibility,” but said that “the significance of many of the mutations is still not known.” READ: 7 cases of Indian Covid variant detected in Nawabganj: Doctor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, described omicron as “the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen,” including potentially worrying changes never before seen all in the same virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.′ top infectious diseases doctor, said American officials had arranged a call with their South African counterparts later on Friday to find out more details and said there was no indication the variant had yet arrived in the U.S. WHAT’S KNOWN AND NOT KNOWN ABOUT THE VARIANT? Scientists know that omicron is genetically distinct from previous variants including the beta and delta variants, but do not know if these genetic changes make it any more transmissible or dangerous. So far, there is no indication the variant causes more severe disease. It will likely take weeks to sort out if omicron is more infectious and if vaccines are still effective against it. Peter Openshaw, a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London said it was “extremely unlikely” that current vaccines wouldn’t work, noting they are effective against numerous other variants. Even though some of the genetic changes in omicron appear worrying, it’s still unclear if they will pose a public health threat. Some previous variants, like the beta variant, initially alarmed scientists but didn’t end up spreading very far. “We don’t know if this new variant could get a toehold in regions where delta is,” said Peacock of the University of Cambridge. “The jury is out on how well this variant will do where there are other variants circulating.” To date, delta is by far the most predominant form of COVID-19, accounting for more than 99% of sequences submitted to the world’s biggest public database. HOW DID THIS NEW VARIANT ARISE? The coronavirus mutates as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying genetic changes, often just die out. Scientists monitor COVID-19 sequences for mutations that could make the disease more transmissible or deadly, but they cannot determine that simply by looking at the virus. Peacock said the variant “may have evolved in someone who was infected but could then not clear the virus, giving the virus the chance to genetically evolve,” in a scenario similar to how experts think the alpha variant — which was first identified in England — also emerged, by mutating in an immune-compromised person. ARE THE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS BEING IMPOSED BY SOME COUNTRIES JUSTIFIED? Maybe. As of noon Friday, travelers arriving in the U.K. from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe will have to self-isolate for 10 days. European Union nations also moved quickly on Friday to ban air travel from southern Africa, and the U.S. also said it would ban travel from South Africa and seven other African nations by non-US citizens beginning Monday. Given the recent rapid rise in COVID-19 in South Africa, restricting travel from the region is “prudent” and would buy authorities more time, said Neil Ferguson, an infectious diseases expert at Imperial College London. READ: People need to be informed about Covid variants: Raushon Jeffrey Barrett, director of COVID-19 Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, thought that the early detection of the new variant could mean restrictions taken now would have a bigger impact than when the delta variant first emerged “With delta, it took many, many weeks into India’s terrible wave before it became clear what was going on and delta had already seeded itself in many places in the world and it was too late to do anything about it,” he said. “We may be at an earlier point with this new variant so there may still be time to do something about it.”

Voicing deep concern over the outbreak of Indian Covid variant in bordering areas, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Sunday warned that the nation will have pay a heavy price for lack of measures to stop it. “The way Indian (Delta) variant of the Coronavirus has been spreading in frontier districts is extremely alarming,” he said in a statement. The Jatiya Party chief said though the infection and fatality rates of the deadly virus are increasing day by day, many people are still entering Bangladesh from India every night dodging the border guards. “So, the frontier districts must be put under a stricter lockdown.” Also read: No support from ministry for local Covid vaccine: GM Quader GM Quader, also the deputy opposition leader in parliament, said the members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) can be deployed in those districts to implement the lockdown. “We’ve to pay a heavy price if any lenient attitude is shown towards the Indian variant.” He said the government must ensure adequate food support to the bordering districts alongside imposing the lockdown. “Hungry people can never be kept confined to their homes without ensuring food for them,” the Jatiya Party chairman observed. Besides, he said, healthcare services need to be improved rapidly at the district level. GM Quader said all the district hospitals, including the bordering ones, must be equipped with adequate oxygen support, necessary medicines and other equipment to deal with the growing number of Covid patients. Also read: Take mega projects to improve healthcare system: GM Quader The highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus was detected in Bangladesh for the first time on May 8 and it is spreading in different parts of the country, including Dhaka. Experts fear that Bangladesh may face the worst outbreak of the deadly virus by the end of June. Bangladesh closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargo on April 26 which was later extended till June 14 to control the spread of coronavirus as the situation in the neighbouring country has deteriorated.