Bangladesh
Akram Khan tests positive for Covid-19
Former Bangladesh captain and current director of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Akram Khan has tested positive for Covid-19. He is currently in home isolation.
Sources close to Akram’s family told UNB that the former skipper was suffering from Covid-19 symptoms for the past few days and hence got himself tested.
Akram also told a local media outlet that he decided to undergo the Covid-19 test after experiencing symptoms of coronavirus.
Also read: Mashrafe infected with coronavirus
“I have been suffering from cold and throat pain for the past few days, and hence got myself tested. Currently, I’m in home isolation. Other members of my family will undergo the Covid-19 test on Saturday," he said.
Due to an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks, BCB has put on hold the remaining matches of the National Cricket League (NCL).
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 7000+ cases for fifth day
Although the government enforced a 7-day lockdown from Monday, people have been moving around freely, posing risks of more transmission. The government has hinted at imposing a complete lockdown from April 14.
Senior journalist Hassan Shahriar passes away
Hassan Shahriar, a veteran journalist and former Jatiya Press Club (JPC) president, passed away at a city hospital on Saturday. He was 76.
Shahriar, also a two-term international president of Commonwealth Journalists' Association (CJA), breathed his last at Impulse Hospital around 11:45am while undergoing treatment there, JPC joint secretary Mainul Alam told UNB.
He said the senior journalist was admitted to the hospital around 1:30 am on Friday with various symptoms of coronavirus, including fever, cough and breathing problem.
Mainual said Shahriar underwent Covid-19 test a week back but the result came out negative. “Later, he was admitted to the hospital with 80% damaged lungs and serious breathing problems.”
His first namaj-e-janaza was held on the Jatiya Press Club premises after Asr prayers, which was participated by his former colleagues, editors, many senior and junior journalists, friends, family members and well-wishers.
After the janaza, leaders of the JPC, CJA, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) and some other organisations, and media outlets paid homage to the journalists by placing wreaths on his coffin.
Also read: Journalist Kayum Khan Milon passes away
On behalf of the Indian High Commission, its press officer Shantanu Mukherjee paid tributes to Hassan Shahriar by laying a wreath on his coffin.
His second janaza was held in front of his residential apartment at the city’s Topkhana Road after Magrib prayers.
Later, he was buried at the Rayer Bazar Graveyard in the capital.
Born on 25 April, 1946 in Sunamganj, Shahriar joined the Daily Ittefaq in the 60s and later worked for a number of international media outlets.
He retired from the Daily Ittefaq as its Executive Editor in 2008 after serving the newspaper for a long time in different capacities.
Shahriar, a confirmed bachelor, was the first editor of the Daily Sun and Chief Editor of Chittagong-based Daily People's View.
Shahriar also worked as Bangladesh correspondent of international news magazine Newsweek, Khaleej Times, India's Daily Deccan Herald, The Indian Express and The Asian Age, Pakistan's Morning News, Dawn and Evening Star.
Also read: Journalist AZM Anas passes away
He was the first journalist from Asia-Pacific to be elected as President of the Toronto-based Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) in 2003. He was also the International President Emeritus of the CJA in 2012.
Journalist Shahriar was awarded the prestigious Harry Brittan Fellowship by the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) in 1978.
He was elected President of the Jatiya Press Club management committee for the 1993-94 tenure. Shahriar was also the incumbent president of Media Club Limited.
Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid expressed profound shock and sorrow at the death of Shahriar.
In a condolence message, he recalled the contributions of Shahriar to the field of journalism.
The President prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also expressed deep shock and sorrow at his death.
In a condolence message, Sheikh Hasina said the role of Hassan Shahriar in Bangladesh’s journalism will ever be remembered.
Also read: Journalist Shaheen Reza Noor passes away
She prayed for the eternal salvation of the departed soul and expressed sympathy to the bereaved family.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and many other ministers and politicians also condoled the death of Shahriar.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also mourned the death of the noted journalist.
JPC President Farida Yasmin and General Secretary Ilias Khan also expressed deep shock at the death of Shahriar.
In a joint condolence message, they said, “The death of noted journalist Hasan Shahriar has caused an irreparable loss to the journalism profession. He was a guardian in Bangladesh's journalist community.”
The JPC leaders also expressed deep sympathy for the bereaved family members.
Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) also mourned the death of the veteran journalist.
In a condolence message, DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and its General Secretary AKM Moinuddin conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members and sought eternal peace for the departed soul of the veteran journalist.
Father's bid to marry off minor foiled in Thakurgaon
Officials of the local administration have foiled a bid to marry off a minor girl in Thakurgaon's Ranishankail upazila.
The family had fixed the marriage of the Class IX student in Bhangbari on Friday, officials said.
After being alerted by local people, a team from the local administration, led by Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sohel Sultan Julker Nain Kabir, reached the house of the girl and stopped the marriage ceremony.
Later, a mobile court fined the girl's father Tk 5,000 for violating the government’s Covid directive by arranging the marriage.
Child marriage in Bangladesh
Between April and October last year, at least 13,886 children were married off in 21 districts when Bangladesh was grappling with coronavirus in its initial stage, according to a survey.
An average of 1.7 child marriages took place a day during this period.
Also read: 13,886 child marriages in 7 months during Covid-19 outbreak: MJF
Of the child brides, 5,089 said they had experienced unexpected pregnancy, according to the survey conducted by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).
They findings were unveiled at a webinar titled 'Rapid Analysis of Child Marriage situation: Coronavirus period 2020' in association with UNFPA, UNICEF and Plan International.
Of the child brides, 50.6 percent were aged between 16 and 17 years at the time of their marriage. Another 47.7 percent were between 13 and15 years old.
A UNICEF report released in October last year noted that despite significant progress in recent years, Bangladesh has the highest prevalence of child marriage in South Asia and ranks among 10 countries in the world with the highest levels.
It called for accelerated action to end child marriages in Bangladesh by 2030.
The report, 'Ending Child Marriage: A Profile of Progress in Bangladesh', said the country will need to put in more efforts to bring change to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to end child marriage by 2030, and the national target to end the practice by 2041.
Also read: 10 million additional girls at risk of child marriage: Unicef
Progress must be at least eight times faster than the rate of the past decade to meet the national target, and 17 times faster to meet the SDG target, it said.
While the prevalence of child marriage in Bangladesh has dropped from over 90 percent in 1970, it remains very high: 51 percent women who are currently aged 20-24 were married off while they were still children.
As a result, the country is home to 38 million child brides who got married before their 18th birthday, including 13 million who were forced to tie the knot before the age of 15.
Shocking imbalance in Covid vaccine distribution: WHO
The World Health Organisation has said that low-income countries have just received only 0.2 percent of the total Covid-19 jabs globally as more than 700 million vaccine doses have been administered across the world.
The vast majority of Covid-19 vaccines administered so far have gone to wealthy nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
“There remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines," WHO chief Tedros Adhanonom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the agency’s regular briefing from Geneva.
“On average in high-income countries, almost one in four people has received a vaccine. In low-income countries, it’s one in more than 500. Let me repeat that: one in four versus one in 500," the UN News quoted him as saying.
Bilateral deals hurt COVAX
The global solidarity initiative, COVAX, has also experienced a shortage of vaccines. While the mechanism has distributed some 38 million doses so far, it was expected to deliver nearly 100 million by the end of March.
Also read: 36 countries yet to get Covid jabs: WHO
“The problem is not getting vaccines out of COVAX; the problem is getting them in," he said.
“We understand that some countries and companies plan to do their own bilateral vaccine donations, bypassing COVAX for their own political or commercial reasons. These bilateral arrangements run the risk of fanning the flames of vaccine inequity.”
Scaling up solidarity
COVAX partners, who include Gavi, the vaccine alliance, are working on several options to scale up production to meet the goal of delivering two billion doses by the end of the year.
Dr Seth Berkley, the Chief Executive Officer at Gavi, highlighted the need for continued solidarity. "What we are now beginning to see are supply constraints, not just of vaccines, but also of the goods that go into making vaccines.
COVAX is in discussions with several high-income countries to get them to share surplus vaccine doses, he said. It is also developing cost-sharing mechanisms so that low-income countries can buy additional doses through COVAX, funded by multilateral development banks.
Also read: Share Covid jabs out of self-interest: WHO
Dr Berkley said that financing is also needed as demand for vaccines has risen with the emergence of new Covid-19 variants.
Concern over ‘raging inferno’ in Brazil
WHO remains deeply concerned about what one of its experts labelled the “raging inferno of an outbreak” in Brazil, in response to a journalist’s question about scaling up vaccines to address the emergency there.
South America’s largest country has recorded more than 340,000 deaths since the pandemic began, making it second only to the United States.
Tedros said he has spoken with the newly appointed health minister, and officials at the federal level, which he hoped will “help with moving forward in our partnership".
Continue prevention measures
Dr Bruce Aylward, a WHO Senior Adviser, described the situation in Brazil as “very, very concerning”. Delivering more vaccines would have minimal impact, he said, emphasing the need to continue measures that have proved to slow virus spread.
“Even by the time you get vaccines into a country, by the time you get them into people -- and you’re getting them to a relatively small proportion of the population -- that will have a small effect in limiting the risk to some people," he said.
“But what you’re dealing with here is a raging inferno of an outbreak, and that requires population-level action in the rapid identification, isolation, quarantining, because you have to approach this at that scale to slow this thing down.”
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead on Covid-19, said that while vaccines are a powerful tool, they alone will not end the pandemic.
“The trajectory of this pandemic around the world is going in the wrong direction," she said, referring to six consecutive weeks of increased cases and rising deaths.
“We have tools right now that can prevent infections and can save lives, so we need to find reasons why measures aren’t in place... and find solutions to actually get these in place.”
DoE's top bureaucrat dies of Covid-19
The Director-General of the Department of Environment (DoE), Dr AKM Rafique Ahammed, died at a hospital in Dhaka early on Saturday morning, days after contracting Covid-19.
Dr Rafique passed away at Central Police Hospital around 4.14 am, said Dipankar Bar, Senior Information Officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The top environment officer was undergoing treatment at the hospital since March 23 and put on life support after his condition worsened on Friday.
A BCS (administration) cadre of 10th batch who joined government service in 1991, Dr Rafique is survived by his wife and two sons.
Before joining DoE on May 22, 2019, Rafique served as a commercial counsellor at the Consulate of Bangladesh in Dubai.
Also read: Covid-19: Hasina for balancing livelihoods and public health
Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin, deputy minister Habibun Nahar, secretary Ziaul Hasan, and employees of the ministry have expressed deep shock at the demise of Dr Rafique.
Covid-19 situation
Bangladesh on Friday recorded more than 7,000 coronavirus cases for the fifth time in six days.
The country has registered 7,462 new cases and 63 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours, the Directorate General of Health Services said on Friday. A day before, the country recorded 74 deaths, its highest.
Bangladesh has so far recorded 673,594 coronavirus cases, according to DGHS.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 7000+ cases for fifth day
Although the government enforced a 7-day lockdown from Monday, people have been moving around freely, posing risks of more transmission. The government has hinted at imposing a complete lockdown from April 14.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death 10 days later.
Vaccination drive
The government launched a countrywide vaccination campaign on February 7, with doses received from the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh on April 8 began its second phase of inoculating people amid uncertainty over the availability of vaccines.
Global Covid-19 cases top 134.5 million
Amid the worrying surge in coronavirus infections, the global Covid caseload topped 134.5 million on Saturday morning.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities now stand at 134,504,773 and 2,914,122, respectively.
In the US, the total number of Covid-19 cases has now surpassed 31 million. As per the data, the country has so far logged 31,082,421 cases and 561,044 virus deaths.
Brazil on Friday reported another 93,317 infections and 3,693 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, raising the national tallies to 348,718 and 13,373,174, respectively, the Ministry of Health said.
Also read: Covid-19: Hasina for balancing livelihoods and public health
Besides, India’s total cases topped 13,060,542 on Saturday morning. A total of 167,642 people have died so far from the virus in the country.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Friday recorded more than 7,000 coronavirus cases for the fifth time in six days.
The country has registered 7,462 new cases and 63 Covid-related deaths, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said Friday. A day before the country recorded 74 deaths, its highest.
The country has so far recorded 673,594 coronavirus cases, according to DGHS.
Although the government enforced a 7-day lockdown from Monday, people have been moving around freely, posing risks of more transmission. The government has hinted at imposing a complete lockdown from April 14.
Also read: Govt considering complete lockdown from April 14: Quader
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death 10 days later.
Vaccination drive
The government launched a countrywide vaccination campaign on February 7 with doses received from the Serum Institute of India.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh records 7000+ cases for fifth day
Bangladesh on April 8 began its second phase of inoculating people amid uncertainty over the availability of vaccine.
Bangladesh, US to work together to address challenges of climate change
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has sought US support for increasing global climate ambition and commitment to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement.
He raised the issue during his meeting with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry held at State guesthouse Padma on Friday.
Dr Momen recalled United States’ crucial role to the successful adoption of the Paris Accord and appreciated Biden Administration's decision to return to the global climate negotiations which would create momentum to advance global climate progress.
He also referred to the crucial contribution of Kerry for concluding the Paris Accord in 2015, and mentioned that Bangladesh had closely worked with the US delegation at that time.
Dr Momen expressed hope that under the leadership of the US, the developed countries would come forward with ambitious actions to limit the global warming at 1.5 degree Celsius.
John Kerry and Foreign Minister Momen had a substantive exchange of views on possible areas of Bangladesh-US climate collaboration in mitigation, adaptation and renewable energy through technology transfer, capacity building and climate finance.
Dr Momen highlighted Bangladesh’s low carbon development path with increasing emphasis on renewable energy and energy efficiency and underlined Bangladesh government’s key initiatives including Climate Change Trust Fund, National Solar Energy Roadmap, National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), ‘Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan’ to achieve low carbon economic growth.
He said Bangladesh was reviewing the potential to enhance its mitigation ambition to submit a quantified ambitious NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) by June 2021.
Bangladesh submitted an interim NDC on 31 December 2020, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
John Kerry highly appreciated Bangladesh’s excellent adaptation and mitigation efforts.
He said that Bangladesh had shown amazing resilience to climate change despite many adversities.
Kerry also praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her leadership in the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
While discussing about the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow in November this year, Foreign Minister Momen reiterated the significance of the promised international financial flow at and beyond US$100 billion annually to support sustainable development and energy transformations of the developing economies.
He stressed that the funding should be distributed at 50:50 ratio between mitigation and adaptation.
Dr Momen also mentioned at the same time that adaptation without mitigation is not a good strategy.
On the issue of the national determined contribution (NDC), Foreign Minister Momen emphasized on behalf of Bangladesh as well as on behalf of the CVF that all countries need to work hard to fulfill their NDCs at the soonest.
He also requested for high level presence from the U.S. government at the CVF-COP26 event, planned to be held on the sidelines of the COP26 to secure a recovery package for the climate vulnerable countries.
Dr Momen said Bangladesh has emerged as a global leader in climate change adaptation which was possible for systematic investment in the adaption measures.
He raised the issue of “loss and damage” due to climatic events, including displacement of people from river erosion, sea level rise and increasing of salinity in the coastal areas.
While discussing bilateral cooperation in the area of climate change, Foreign Minister Momen requested for US support in renewable energy, including investment from the US companies in the renewable energy sector of Bangladesh. Dr. Momen also requested for US assistance in afforestation.
He sought support for reconstruction and widening of embankments around the rivers to stop erosion, and also afforestation along the embankments, and in the Southern region of Bangladesh.
The issue of rehabilitation of the population displaced because of river erosion and also from the coastal areas because of the sea-level rise was discussed, and Foreign Minister sought US support in this regard.
Dr Momen also informed Kerry that on the occasion of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Government has planted 11.5 million trees, and in total around 30 million trees are being planted all over Bangladesh this year.
The Foreign Minister informed about the establishment of the regional office of the Global Centre for Adaptation (GCA) in Dhaka in October 2020 for sharing of local adaptation strategies in the region, and asked for US support for the Centre.
Immediately after the bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Momen, John Kerry also held a working lunch with Foreign Minister Momen, Environment Minister Shahab Uddin, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Foreign Afffairs Lt. Col. Muhammad Faruk Khan (Retd.), MP, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Environment Saber Hossain Chowdhury and discussed two countries’ possible cooperation and joint efforts to advance climate actions.
After these two meetings, a joint press briefing was held where John Kerry and Foreign Minister Momen met the press.
Kerry called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Ganabhaban that lasted for more than one hour.
He visited Bangladesh regarding invitation by the US President Joseph Biden to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the U.S. hosted Leaders Summit on Climate to be held virtually on 22-23 April 2021 and to have discussions on increasing climate ambition ahead of the Leaders Summit and the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the UNFCCC.
BNP, JaPa mourn Prince Philip’s death
BNP and on Friday expressed deep shock over the death of British Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip.
In a condolence message, the party said, “Not only Britain but also the entire world, especially the Commonwealth countries, lost a tested friend at the demise of Prince Philip.”
It said the people of the UK have lost a guardian who gave Queen Elizabeth the full support and strength in performing her responsibilities. “In his personal life, Philip was a very polite, humble, cordial and gentleman with strong morale,” the party said.
It also said the Prince had worked tirelessly to make British society more tolerant, balanced and humanitarian based on justice. “Besides, Prince Philip had done much to preserve wildlife and the environment and develop the young people.”
Also read: Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dies aged 99
Expressing deep sympathy for the members of the British Royal Family and the British people, BNP prayed for the eternal peace of Philip’s departed soul.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Party also expressed deep condolence at Philip's death.
In a condolence message, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader said Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was engaged in humanitarian work. “He had given encouragement and support to Queen Elizabeth’s social services throughout his life.”
In another condolence message, Jatiya Party Secretary General Zaiuddin Ahmed Bablu also condoled the death of Philip.
GM Quader and Bablu also prayed for the eternal peace of Price Philip’s departed soul and conveyed their sympathy to the bereaved Royal Family members.
Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband, died aged 99, the Buckingham Palace said on Friday.
4 Rab members detained in Dhaka for ‘demanding ransom’
Police on Friday detained four members of Rapid Action Battalion and a woman from the capital for allegedly demanding ransom from the family members of an abducted man.
Hatirjheel thana police detained them after receiving a complaint from the abducted man’s sister Rayana Hossain, 20. She informed the police that a person, claiming to be a Rab member, demanded ransom over phone for letting her brother Tamzid Hossain, 27, go.
Based on her information, the Hatirjheel thana police rescued Tamzid and detained the four Rab members along with the woman. However, their identities have not been made public.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam told reporters that three of the Rab members are from the army while the other is from the air force. They were sent back to their parent forces.
Director (Legal and Media Wing) of the Rab headquarters Commander Khandaker Al Moin said the Rab members would face action if the allegations against them are found to be true.
Replying to a question, he said the force does not take responsibility for any individual’s crime.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Hatirjheel Police Station on early Friday by the victim’s sister, Tamzid went out of their Mirbagh residence around 9am on Thursday for Uttara.
Around noon, a man called her from an unknown number and introduced himself as a senior RAB official and told her that her brother was in their custody. The caller also threatened to kill her brother if they informed police.
The caller called again at around 1:30pm on Thursday and informed her that her brother was being interrogated at Rab office by senior officials and he might be killed in ‘crossfire’ if they did not pay Tk 2 crore.
Finally, they agreed to let Tamzid for Tk 12 lakh, according to the FIR.
Whale carcass washes ashore on Cox’s Bazar beach
The carcass of a humpback whale washed ashore on the Himchhari beach adjacent to Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf marine drive on Friday morning.
Locals found the rotting carcass when the tide was receding.
“We suspect that the whale died a week ago. Samples from the carcass have been collected for tests. The reason behind its death can be known after a necropsy,” said SM Khalequzzaman, the Cox’s Bazar District Fisheries Officer.
Read Dead tiger’s autopsy done in Bagerhat
The 44 feet long whale is believed to be about 17 years old, said marine biologist Jahirul Islam.
Khalequzzaman said this species is seen in the Bay in the south-western part of the Sundarbans.
The last time a whale washed ashore here was in 2008. In 1991, another whale carcass had washed ashore on Laboni beach.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Amin Al Parvez told reporters that they would try to determine the cause of the whale’s death and bury it as soon as possible.
Read Whale 'swallows' sea lion: 'It was a once-in-a-lifetime event'