Advertisement In January, Bangladesh seemed to be doing well in terms of curbing the transmission of COVID-19. The infection rate was recorded at lower than 5 percent for seven weeks straight in mid-January, indicating a good response to the crisis according to World Health Organization guidelines, which consider the pandemic under control if infection rate remains below 5 percent for two consecutive weeks. The cases were dropping consistently, with February 26 seeing the lowest monthly recorded death toll of five. The Second Wave: The Beta Variant The onslaught of the second wave started in mid-March when the number of daily recorded cases and deaths started rising sharply. According to Bangladesh’s leading health research institute, ICDDRB, between March 18-24, the Beta variant, originally detected in South Africa, was found in more than 80 percent of the samples tested. The Beta variant was first detected in Bangladesh on January 24.