Hospitals in three divisions have seen a rise in the number of patients being admitted  with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to the health directorate.

The divisions are Dhaka, Chattogram, and Rajshahi.

Dhaka division had the highest 14 percent bed occupancy rate in Covid-19 hospitals yesterday. It was 13 percent in Chattogram and 10 percent in Rajshahi divisions.

According to experts, the number of Covid-19 patients would continue to increase in the coming days due to the spread of the new coronavirus variant.

Dr Abu Jamil Faisel, member of Public Health Advisory Committee of the DGHS, said, "Omicron will continue to infect more people in the coming days. The rush of patients to the hospitals will also rise."

According to the Covid-19 dynamic dashboard data, the bed occupancy rate this week has increased the most in Chattogram division from the previous week, from 4.71 percent to 9.86 percent.

In the same duration, the bed occupancy rate has increased from 7.29 percent to 8.71 percent in Rajshahi division and from 10.29 percent to 12.14 percent in Dhaka, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

In all other divisions, the bed occupancy rate has increased steadily during the same period, but still below 5 percent, except in Khulna division where it is 5.14 percent.

Since the Omicron cases were reported in the second week of December, the bed occupancy rate has reached 10 percent-mark on December 26 in Dhaka division.

The rates, however, reached to 10 percent-mark on Friday in Rajshahi division and on Wednesday in Chattogram.

Dr Arifa Akram, head of virology department at the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Center, said "The trend will continue to rise because we are getting a higher positivity rate -- 15 to 16 percent – recently."

Yesterday, 3,447 new cases were reported with 14.35 percent positivity rate. Seven Covid-19 patients died.