The Covid-19 test positivity inched up further to 11.03 per cent in Bangladesh with the health authorities reporting a single death from the coronavirus disease on Tuesday.
The positivity rate was 10.87 per cent on Monday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the DGHS recorded 874 new virus cases during the last 24 hours until 8:0am on Tuesday against the previous day's 873.
With the latest daily counts, total death toll from Covid-19 reached 29,132 since the virus was first detected in Bangladesh in March 2020.
A total of 7,927 samples were tested, including antigen-based rapid tests, while 7,893 samples were collected across the country during the last 24 hours.
However, 84 more people had recovered from the Covid-19 during the last 24-hour reporting time.
The rate of recovery from the coronavirus disease was reported at 97.34 per cent on the day.
On the other hand, the rate of fatalities from Covid-19 remained static at 1.59 per cent.
According to the DGHS data, the total Covid-19 caseloads crossed 1.958 million and more than 1.90 million of them recovered in the country.
However, over 14.24 million samples have been tested in the country so far.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi researchers on Tuesday detected a new Omicron sub-variant in the bodies of two men in the country's Jessore district.
According to a research team of the Genome Center at Jessore University of Science and Technology (JUST), one of the victims is 44 years old and the other is aged 79; one of them took booster dose of the Covid vaccine, while the other received two doses of the coronavirus shot.
The researchers identified the new Covid sub-variant, named BA.4/5, through a partial (spike protein) genome sequence of the virus collected from the two Covid-19 infected people.
One of the victims is being treated at the hospital and the other is being treated at home. They had various mild symptoms, including fever, sore throat, cold and cough.
Researchers believed that both of them had been infected locally.
Prof Iqbal Kabir Jahid, chairman of the Department of Microbiology at JUST and also associate director of the Genome Center, led the research.
The Omicron sub-variant was first identified in South Africa this year and later in India last month. Scientists believe that this sub-variant is responsible for the fifth wave of coronavirus infection in South Africa and most recently the third Covid wave in India.
People, who have been vaccinated, are also being infected by this sub-variant, said the researchers, adding that this sub-variant might cause more infections in the coming days compared to other variants.
JUST Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Md Anwar Hossain, who is also director of the Genome Center, said this sub-variant was able to easily evade the human immune system.
He emphasised that people should strictly adhere to Covid safety protocols, including the use of masks.
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