<span style="color: #222222;">Three more cases of the Omicron variant of COVID 19 were detected in Bangladesh on Wednesday taking the total number of the new variant to 7 in the country. The newly detected cases were found in Dhaka. The information was shared by the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database of Germany. Two of the infected persons are women while the third is an 84-year-old male.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> <br />'' Earlier this week two people were found infected with the Omicron variant of Coronavirus in Bangladesh.<br />'' <br />'' The first case of the Omicron variant in Bangladesh was reported in two women cricket players who had returned from Zimbabwe on December 1. Both of them have recovered from the infection and returned home from the hospital.<br />'' <br />'' Meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 495 fresh cases of COVID 19 and one death on Wednesday. It marked the highest number of fresh infections since October 13 when 518 cases were reported. The sample positivity rate has also shown an upward trend in recent days. In December it remained below 2 percent and then climbed over 2 percent rate for most of the days from 24 December. On a weekly average basis, on December 28,  the number of fresh cases detected has increased by over 98 percent.<br />'' <br />''Bangladesh started booster doses of COVID 19 vaccine on a limited scale from Tuesday. More than 7.1 crore people or 41.49 percent of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine while 4.9 crore people have received both doses of the vaccine till date covering 28.69 percent of the total population of the country.</span>