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The race to sequence genomes as COVID surges Daily News (via HT Media Ltd.)
In early April, Prof. Neelika Malavige shut down her laboratory in Sri Lanka for 10 days to celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Malavige, an immunologist at the Sri Jayewardenepura University in Colombo, runs the only lab in the nation that sequences SARS-CoV-2 genomes. But case counts had dipped, hotspots had started to receive vaccines, and her team badly needed the break.
Prof. Neelika Malavige
When the researchers returned to work, however, what they found was dizzying. Of the 78 samples that they sequenced from people with COVID-19 in late April, 66 contained the highly transmissible UK B.1.1.7 variant. Since April 17, the number of new COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka which hit 2,672 on May 9 has been breaking records almost every day. Hospitals are filling up and Malavige is bracing for a looming wave of deaths. “The situation in Sri Lanka is looking very grim,” she says.
Shoppers crowd at a marketplace in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 7. (AP Photo)
DHAKA India s surge in coronavirus cases is having a dangerous effect on neighboring Bangladesh, with health experts warning of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up jabs and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected.
On Saturday, health authorities said that for the first time, a coronavirus variant originally identified in India was found in Bangladesh, without providing further details. For weeks, South African variants have dominated the samples sequenced in Bangladesh. There are concerns that these versions spread more easily and that first-generation vaccines could be less effective against them.
As India surges, Bangladesh lacks jabs, faces virus variants
Julhas Alam
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Shoppers crowd at a marketplace in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 7, 2021. India s surge in coronavirus cases is having a dangerous effect on neighboring Bangladesh. Health experts warn of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up its vaccination drive, and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
DHAKA – India s surge in coronavirus cases is having a dangerous effect on neighboring Bangladesh, with health experts warning of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up jabs and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected.
As India s Covid cases surge, Bangladesh lacks jabs, faces virus variants
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Send India s surge in coronavirus cases is having a serious effect on neighbouring Bangladesh, with health experts warning of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up jabs and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected.
Dhaka:
On Saturday, health authorities said that for the first time, a coronavirus variant originally identified in India was found in Bangladesh, without providing further details. For weeks, South African variants have dominated the samples sequenced in Bangladesh. There are concerns that these versions spread more easily and that first-generation vaccines could be less effective against them.