Irish health officials believe South African Covid-19 variant contained
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
TUESDAY, MAY 17, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Irish health officials believe South African Covid-19 variant contained

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
09 January, 2021, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 09 January, 2021, 09:22 pm

Related News

  • WHO: Covid-19 falling everywhere, except Americas and Africa
  • N Korea reports first Covid-19 outbreak, orders lockdown
  • 34 volunteers chose to get covid. Here’s what scientists learned
  • Setback for Shanghai's Covid battle; Beijing focus on mass testing
  • No individual can be forced to get vaccinated: Indian SC

Irish health officials believe South African Covid-19 variant contained

Ireland this week reported an increasing presence of the variant first found in England

Reuters
09 January, 2021, 09:15 pm
Last modified: 09 January, 2021, 09:22 pm
Representational image of Covid-19 testing. Picture: Collected
Representational image of Covid-19 testing. Picture: Collected

Health officials in Ireland, where a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first discovered in England has been surging, said on Saturday they believe three cases of another new variant found in South Africa had been contained.

Ireland is grappling with a Covid-19 surge that has exceeded last year's first wave. It confirmed the first cases of the more infectious variant found in South Africa on Friday in people who had travelled to Ireland from South Africa over the Christmas holidays.

Ireland this week reported an increasing presence of the variant first found in England. It was detected in 25% of positive cases that underwent further testing in the week to Jan. 3, up from just 9% two weeks earlier.

"The UK variant is of more concern to us purely because of the amount of virus that's on the island, and we know that it's transmitting in the community," Cillian De Gascun, the head of Ireland's national virus laboratory, told national broadcaster RTE.

"The good thing about the South African variant is we know exactly where those cases came from, they have been contained, controlled and contact traced, and to the best of my knowledge there was no onward transmission."

The government announced its strictest lockdown measures since early last year on Wednesday, warning that a "tsunami" of infections fuelled by the UK variant and the relaxation of curbs ahead of Christmas could overwhelm the healthcare system.

The number of patients in Irish hospitals with Covid-19 rose by 12% in the space of 24 hours on Saturday to 1,285, having in recent days exceeded the peak of 881 set during the first wave of infections.

Fourteen more patients were admitted to intensive care units (ICU). That brought the total number receiving critical care to 119 and left just 27 of the 284 ICU beds in the country's public hospitals empty.

Those hospitals can increase ICU capacity safely to 375, the head of Ireland Health Service Executive (HSE) said this week. The HSE has also reached an agreement to take over private hospital ICU beds for Covid-19 admissions.

Coronavirus / Covid-19 New Variant / contained

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
    Dollar price crosses Tk100 in open market 
  • Govt fixes tolls for Padma Bridge
    Govt fixes tolls for Padma Bridge
  • Photo: PID
    Prioritise dev projects, spend wisely: PM Hasina 

MOST VIEWED

  • People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in North Korea, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea on 17 May 2022. Photo: Reuters.
    N Korea Covid outbreak could have 'devastating' impact on human rights, UN says
  • Two women hug at a closed street during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 16, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai achieves 'zero Covid' status but normal life is weeks away
  • People wearing protective face masks commute amid concerns over the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pyongyang, North Korea March 30, 2020, in this photo released by Kyodo. Picture taken March 30, 2020. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
    N Korea mobilises army, steps up tracing amid Covid wave
  • Customers wait in front of a restaurant in Beijing, China April 15, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Files
    China's economy skids as lockdowns hit factories, retailers
  • A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site inside a residential compound under lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China April 14, 2022. REUTERS/Xihao Jiang
    Shanghai aims for return to normal life from 1 June
  • South Korea's new President Yoon Suk-yeol signs a document as he works at the new Presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2022. Yonhap via REUTERS/File Photo
    S Korea says it will spare no effort to help North Korea amid Covid outbreak

Related News

  • WHO: Covid-19 falling everywhere, except Americas and Africa
  • N Korea reports first Covid-19 outbreak, orders lockdown
  • 34 volunteers chose to get covid. Here’s what scientists learned
  • Setback for Shanghai's Covid battle; Beijing focus on mass testing
  • No individual can be forced to get vaccinated: Indian SC

Features

Despite Bangladesh having about 24,000 km of waterways, only a few hundred kilometres are covered by commercial launch services. Photo: Saad Abdullah

Utilising waterways: When common home-goers show the way

5h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How Putin revived Nato

7h | Panorama
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The United House: Living and working inside nature

7h | Habitat
Pcycle team members at a waste management orientation event. Photo: Courtesy

Pcycle: Turning waste from bins into beautiful crafts

8h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Can your coworker be your closest friend?

Can your coworker be your closest friend?

8h | Videos
The mystery behind Pyramid

The mystery behind Pyramid

8h | Videos
Finland, Sweden decide to join NATO

Finland, Sweden decide to join NATO

20h | Videos
Where you can swim for Tk5

Where you can swim for Tk5

22h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
Impact of falling taka against US dollar
Banking

Taka losing more value as global currency market volatility persists

4
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

5
Union Capital asked to return Tk100cr FDR to BATBC 
Banking

Union Capital asked to return Tk100cr FDR to BATBC 

6
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab