STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Three more cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected as the new infections continued to rise for the sixth day yesterday.

With this, the number of confirmed Omicron cases in Bangladesh rose to 10, according to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) -- a Germany-based web database.

The new patients with Omicron include two females aged 49 and 65 and a male who is 65, it said. All of them are from Dhaka, according to the data submitted by the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi) in Dhaka. ideSHi collected swabs from those patients on Monday through active surveillance.

The country’s first two Omicron cases were reported on December 9.

The variant -- first reported in South Africa -- is spreading fast elsewhere leading to widespread curbs.