DHAKA: Bangladesh has detected its first cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Saturday.

The Omicron variant was detected in two female cricketers of the Bangladesh Cricket Team, the health minister said, adding the cricketers returned to the country recently from Zimbabwe.

They are now in institutional isolation at a hotel in Dhaka, and their condition is currently stable, he said. The minister said all necessary measures have been taken over the new coronavirus variant.

The Bangladesh government has recently made 14 days institutional quarantine mandatory for those returning from seven African countries as part of precautionary measures to rein in the new variant of the COVID-19.

On Saturday, Bangladesh reported 177 new cases and five new deaths from the virus, bringing its total tally to 15,78,996 with the death toll standing at 28,022.