coronavirus
Another dies from Covid in Bangladesh, 275 more get infected
Bangladesh logged one more Covid-linked death with 275 fresh infections in 24 hours till Saturday morning.
With the detection of the fresh cases after testing 13, 699 samples, the daily case positivity rate declined slightly to 2.01 per cent from Friday’s 2.02 per cent during the period, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country on Friday reported one Covid-linked death and 342 fresh cases.
Though the deaths remained below five since December 13, the daily cases remained mostly over 250, according to data provided by the DGHS.
Read: Dengue: 18 more patients hospitalised in 24 hrs
The fresh numbers reported on Saturday took the country’s total fatalities to 28,056 while the caseload mounted to 15,82,985.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
Besides, the recovery rate remained static at 97.74 per cent with the recovery of 224 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On December 9, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing.
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Read: Invasive mosquitoes offer no relief to DNCC dwellers
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
DU Professor of Sanskrit Department dies of Covid
Retired Professor of Dhaka University Dr Foyjunnesa Begum died of Coronavirus. She was 81.
She breathed her last on Saturday afternoon while undergoing treatment at United Hospital in Dhaka.
Dr Foyjunnesa had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since December 10 after she tested positive for covid-19.
Read:National Professor Rafiqul Islam dies at 87
In a condolence message on Sunday Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman University expressed deep grief over the death of Begum Fayjunnesa.
The VC said Faizunnesa was a very humble, gentle and humane teacher and researcher. She held various important posts including chairman of Sanskrit department with honesty, devotion and efficiency.
Hits 'keep coming': Hospitals struggle as COVID beds fill
Hospitals across the country are struggling to cope with burnout among doctors, nurses and other workers, already buffeted by a crush of patients from the ongoing surge of the COVID-19 delta variant and now bracing for the fallout of another highly transmissible mutation.
Ohio became the latest state to summon the National Guard to help overwhelmed medical facilities. Experts in Nebraska warned that its hospitals soon may need to ration care. Medical officials in Kansas and Missouri are delaying surgeries, turning away transfers and desperately trying to hire traveling nurses, as cases double and triple in an eerie reminder of last year's holiday season.
READ: Global Covid cases top 273 million
“There is no medical school class that can prepare you for this level of death," said Dr. Jacqueline Pflaum-Carlson, an emergency medicine specialist at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. “The hits just keep coming.”
The national seven-day average of COVID-19 hospital admissions was 60,000 by Wednesday, far off last winter's peak but 50% higher than in early November, the government reported. The situation is more acute in cold-weather regions, where people are increasingly gathering inside and new infections are piling up.
New York state reported Saturday that slightly more than 21,900 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the day before, a new high since tests became widely available. Consequences of the latest surge have been swift in New York City: The Rockettes Christmas show was scratched for the season; some Broadway shows canceled performances because of outbreaks among cast members; and “Saturday Night Live” announced it was taping without a live audience and with only limited cast and crew.
“We are in a situation where we are now facing a very important delta surge and we are looking over our shoulder at an oncoming omicron surge," Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said of the two COVID-19 variants.
READ: Pfizer tests extra COVID shot for kids under 5 in setback
At AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, a hospital near Kansas City, Missouri, chief medical officer Dr. Lisa Hays said the emergency department is experiencing backups sometimes lasting for days.
“The beds are not the issue. It’s the nurses to staff the beds. ... And it’s all created by rising COVID numbers and burnout," Hays said. “Our nurses are burnt out.”
Experts attribute most of the rise in cases and hospitalizations to infections among people who have not been inoculated against the coronavirus. The government says 61% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, said the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” continues to swamp the hospital and its workers.
“There’s no place to go. Our staff are tired. We’re going to run out of travelers," Stites said, referring to visiting health care workers, “and omicron is at our doorstep. This is a tornado warning to our community.”
Ohio's National Guard deployment is one of the largest seen during the pandemic, with more than 1,000 members sent to beleaguered hospitals especially in the Akron, Canton and Cleveland areas.
As of Friday, 4,723 people in the state were hospitalized with the coronavirus, a number last seen about a year ago, Gov. Mike DeWine said. Some staffers were taking only short breaks before punching in for second shifts, he added.
Health systems elsewhere that are doing somewhat better are nervously eyeing the arrival of the omicron variant and girding themselves for the impact.
Nebraska officials said hospitals might have to put some care on hold to make room for COVID-19 patients. While case numbers are down from the state's pandemic peak, they could rebound rapidly, and bed availability remains tight because of patients with non-virus ailments.
“It may be likely that omicron will cause a giant surge, and honestly we can’t handle that right now,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett of Nebraska Medicine in Omaha.
At Los Angeles’ Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, just 17 coronavirus patients were being treated there Friday, a small fraction of the hospital’s worst stretch. Nurse manager Edgar Ramirez said his co-workers are weary but better prepared if a wave hits.
“The human factor of having that fear is always going to be there,” Ramirez said. “I tell our crew, ‘We have to talk through this. We have to express ourselves.’ Otherwise it’s going to tough.”
Twin sisters Linda Calderon and Natalie Balli, 71, had planned to get vaccinated but delayed it until it was too late. Now they're on oxygen in the same room at Providence Holy Cross, their beds separated by just a few feet.
“We kept saying, ‘we’ll do it tomorrow.’ But tomorrow never came,” Calderon said as she watched her sister struggle to breathe. “We really regret not getting the shots, because if we did, we wouldn’t be like this right now.”
Pflaum-Carlson, the doctor at Detroit's Henry Ford Health, made a public plea for people to get the shots both for their benefit and for those toiling on the frontlines of care. Eighty percent of the roughly 500 COVID-19 patients at the system's five hospitals were unvaccinated,
“Have a little grace and consideration in how devastating things are right now,” she said.
WHO: Omicron detected in 89 countries, cases doubling fast
The omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in 89 countries, and COVID-19 cases involving the variant are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days in places with community transmission and not just infections acquired abroad, the World Health Organization said Saturday.
Omicron's "substantial growth advantage" over the delta variant means it is likely to soon overtake delta as the dominant form of the virus in countries where the new variant is spreading locally, the U.N. health agency said.
Read: Booster at least 80% effective against severe Omicron
Booster doses to be rolled out on trial basis from Sunday: Health Minister
Covid-19 booster doses will be administered on trial basis from Sunday, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
However, the minister did not mention the time and vaccination center where the booster doses will be administered.
The minister said this at a Pitha-Puli festival in Manikganj on Friday.
Maleque said the government decided to administer booster doses to senior citizens aged above 60 and frontliners, including doctors, nurses, government officials and journalists, who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago.
He said that all the activities to administer booster doses are underway. “The Prime Minister also has given approval to start a booster dose.”
In this regard, steps to update the ‘Surokkha’ app are in progress. Besides, lists of those who are eligible for booster dose are being prepared, said the minister.
Read: Covid booster doses to start within 7-10 days: Minister
Zahid Maleque said seven crore people received the first dose and 4.5 crore people have been fully vaccinated so far in Bangladesh.
There is no shortage of covid vaccines in the country. Currently, seven lakh doses of Pfizer vaccines are in stock. In all, 4.45 crore doses of vaccine are in stock.
Two crore more doses of vaccine will arrive next month, the minister added.
On Wednesday, Zahid Maleque said at a programme while receiving 80 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan and UK through the global COVAX facility that the drive to administer Covid-19 booster doses will be in the next seven to ten days.
On Monday, the Cabinet directed the authorities concerned, particularly the Health Minister and the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, to work on a precise guideline over the campaign of booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.
PM also instructed earlier the technical committee to work on a precise guideline over when the booster dose campaign needs to be started.
On Sunday, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended booster shots to the citizens above 60 and frontliners.
Read: National Committee recommends booster dose for above 60 citizens, frontliners
The senior citizens and frontliners who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago will get the booster dose, the NTAC recommended at a meeting.
It also suggested all to take steps to limit public gatherings, meetings and rallies to contain the spread of Omicron.
On December 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Omicron is now present in 57 countries and asked all countries to stay alert about the new variant.
A WHO panel named the Coronavirus variant ‘Omicron’ and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the USA.
Amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) suggested the implementation of 15 instructions to prevent the spread of the new variant and urged all concerned to take measures to enforce the instructions.
Bangladesh reports 2 more Covid-linked deaths with 191 fresh cases
Bangladesh reported two more Covid-related deaths with 191 fresh cases in 24 hours till Friday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate increased to 1.17 per cent from Thursday’s 1.02 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: CDC recommends Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 shots over J&J's
The total fatalities rose to 28,043 while the caseload mounted to 15,80,750 with the fresh ones.
Two of the latest fatalities were men from Dhaka and Rangpur divisions.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 16,310 samples, said the DGHS.
Besides, the recovery rate decreased a bit to 97.75 per cent with the recovery of 145 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On December 9, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic is apparently showing signs of easing.
Read: Bangladesh reports 3 more Covid-linked deaths with 257 fresh cases
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
So far, 15,45,259 Covid-19 infected people have recovered.
Covid kills 4 more in Bangladesh; positivity rate falls to 1.05%
Bangladesh reported four more Covid-related deaths with 297 fresh cases in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate declined to 1.05 per cent from Tuesday’s 1.29 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:Covid booster doses to start within 7-10 days: Minister
The total fatalities rose to 28,038 while the caseload mounted to 15,80,302 with the fresh ones.
Three of the latest deceased were men and one was a woman. Each fatality was reported from Dhaka, Khulna, Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 28,317 samples, said the DGHS.
Besides, the recovery rate remained static at 97.76 per cent with the recovery of 269 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On December 9, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic is apparently showing signs of easing.
Read: Another member of Bangladesh women’s cricket team tests positive for Covid-19
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
So far, 4,41,62,695 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 6,74,70,049 received the first dose as of Tuesday, according to the DGHS.
Among them, 2,70,304 students, aged from 12-17, have fully been vaccinated while 15,88,886 students received the first dose so far.
Global Covid cases surpass 270mn amid Omicron surge
The overall global number of coronavirus cases has surged past 270 million amid the race of scientists to learn about its Omicron variant’s transmissibility and severity.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 270,126,616 while the death toll from the virus reached 5,305,655 on Monday morning.
The US has recorded 49,919,637 cases so far and more than 797,345 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, registered 22,177,059 cases as of Monday, while its Covid death toll rose to 616,457.
India has registered 7,774 new cases of Covid-19 during the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 34,690,510, the country’s health ministry data revealed on Sunday.
Read:UK faces 'tidal wave' of omicron cases: Boris Johnson
The ministry also reported 306 more deaths during the same period, taking the total death toll to 475,434.
India also reported two more cases of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) on Sunday, taking the country's tally of the new variant to 35, officials said.
Meanwhile, Britain faces a “tidal wave” of infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant, and announced a huge increase in booster vaccinations to strengthen defences against it, warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday.
Another 633 Omicron cases have been confirmed in Britain, the biggest daily increase since the Covid-19 variant was detected in the country, taking the total cases found in the country to 1,898, British health authorities said on Saturday.
Britain reports 54,073 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 10,771,444, according to official figures released on Saturday.
The country also reported a further 132 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 146,387, with 7,413 COVID-19 patients still in hospital.
The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the 1of the highly transmissible new strain “adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and health care services” at a time when Covid-19 is already widespread. They recommended raising the alert level from 3 to 4 on a 5-point scale. The top level, 5, indicates authorities think the healthcare system is about to be overwhelmed.
The doctors said early evidence shows Omicron is spreading much faster than the currently dominant delta variant, and that vaccines offer less protection against it. British officials say Omicron is likely to replace delta as the dominant strain in the UK within days.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported six more Covid-related deaths along with 329 fresh cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning amid the entry of Omicron.
Bangladesh last recorded over 300 daily Covid-cases with 312 cases and three Covid-linked deaths.
With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate increased again to 1.52 per cent from Saturday’s 1.13 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The total fatalities mounted to 28,028 while the caseload mounted to 15,79, 325, with the number of fresh cases.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
Four of the latest deceased were men and two women.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 21,612 samples.
Besides, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.77 per cent with the recovery of 288 more patients during the 24-hour period.
On Thursday, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic is apparently showing signs of easing.
The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year.
However, some of the leading public health experts in Bangladesh have warned that the current trend of plummeting Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh could well be the obvious calm before a cataclysmic storm.
Their fears centre around children below 12 who remain out of the vaccine coverage and the elderly people.
These experts fear a slow pace of vaccination, waning vaccine immunity, sheer disregard for Covid-safety protocols, reopening of schools and increased travel may set the stage for another Covid wave in Bangladesh -- a trend many European countries are witnessing now.
Read:South African doctors see signs omicron is milder than delta
Omicron enters Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Saturday reported the first two cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus.
“These two infected female patients (cricketers) returned from Zimbabwe recently,” ASM Alamgir, chief scientific officer of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told UNB.
He said the Omicron patients are members of the Bangladesh Women's Cricket Team and they do not have any severe symptoms.
However, the two female members of the cricket team have been kept in a hotel for isolation, he added.
The two cricketers tested positive for Covid-19 on December 6.
The women's team recently returned home from Zimbabwe after confirming their participation in the next 50-over World Cup, which will be Bangladesh’s maiden World Cup appearance as well.
UK faces 'tidal wave' of omicron cases: Boris Johnson
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Sunday that Britain faces a “tidal wave” of infections from the omicron coronavirus variant, and announced a huge increase in booster vaccinations to strengthen defenses against it.
In a televised statement, Johnson said everyone age 18 and older will be offered a third shot of vaccine by the end of this month in response to the omicron “emergency.” The previous target was the end of January.
He said cases of the highly transmissible variant are doubling every two to three days in Britain, and “there is a tidal wave of omicron coming.”
Read: Pfizer says COVID booster offers protection against omicron
”And I’m afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need,” Johnson said. “But the good news is that our scientists are confident that with a third dose – a booster dose – we can all bring our level of protection back up.”
He announced a “national mission” to deliver booster vaccines, with pop-up vaccination centers and seven-day-a-week getting extra support from teams of military planners and thousands of volunteer vaccinators.
Johnson’s Dec. 31 target applies to England. The other parts of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — are also expected to speed up their vaccination campaigns.
The U.K. Health Security Agency says existing vaccines appear less effective in preventing symptomatic infections in people exposed to omicron, though preliminary data show that effectiveness appears to rise to between 70% and 75% after a third vaccine dose.
More than 80% of people age 12 and up in Britain have received two doses of vaccine, and 40% of adults have had three doses. Giving the rest a booster in the next three weeks will be a huge challenge, requiring almost 1 million doses delivered a day. Johnson acknowledged that many routine medical procedures would have to be postponed to meet the goal.
Johnson's announcement came hours after the government raised the country’s official coronavirus threat level, warning the rapid spread of the omicron variant had pushed the U.K. into risky territory.
The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said the 1of the highly transmissible new strain “adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and health care services” at a time when COVID-19 is already widespread. They recommended raising the alert level from 3 to 4 on a 5-point scale. The top level, 5, indicates authorities think the health care system is about to be overwhelmed.
The doctors said early evidence shows omicron is spreading much faster than the currently dominant delta variant, and that vaccines offer less protection against it. British officials say omicron is likely to replace delta as the dominant strain in the U.K. within days.
“Data on severity will become clearer over the coming weeks but hospitalizations from omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly,” they said.
Concerns about the new variant led Johnson’s Conservative government to reintroduce restrictions that were lifted almost six months ago. Masks must be worn in most indoor settings, COVID-19 certificates must be shown to enter nightclubs and people are being urged to work from home if possible.
Read: Scientist behind UK vaccine says next pandemic may be worse
Many scientists say that’s unlikely to be enough, however, and are calling for tougher measures, which the government so far has resisted.
Scientists in South Africa, where omicron was first identified, say they see signs it may cause less severe disease than delta, but caution that it is too soon to be certain.
Now that Omicron is here, what can the early data out of South Africa tell us?
Two members of the Bangladesh women’s cricket team, which remains in quarantine since returning from Zimbabwe amid the Omicron scare late last month, were confirmed on Saturday as the country’s first identified cases of the latest coronavirus variant of concern.
Since first being identified by South African doctors in the province of Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg in mid-November, Omicron has spread quickly around the globe, and was said to be present in at least 57 countries by the WHO as of Thursday – before Bangladesh confirmed its cases.
Africa recorded more than 107 000 cases in the week ending on 5 December, up from around 55 000, according to WHO – up 93% over the previous week. Countries in southern Africa, where the variant is known to have been in circulation since early November, recorded the highest increase with a 140% hike mainly driven by an uptick in South Africa.
Scientists around the world are poring over the early data out of SA in order to gain a grasp of what to expect in the event of a new wave of infections driven by Omicron. At this stage, the weight of evidence indicates although an Omicron wave may well be inevitable, it is likely to be typified by milder cases, with less severe disease than what was witnessed during the Delta wave.
Data which looked at hospitalisations across South Africa between 14 November and 4 December found that ICU occupancy was only 6.3% – which the WHO says is “very low” compared with the same early period of the wave linked to the Delta variant in July.
Out of more than 1200 admissions, 98 were receiving supplemental oxygen and only four were on ventilation. Most of the people admitted to the health facilities were under the age of 40 – this isn’t unusual, as the early part of a wave is often fuelled by the young, who tend to be more outgoing, as well as less vaccinated.
WHO has warned that as the clinical profile of patients changes, the impact of Omicron may change. This would apply even more in countries with a different demographic profile to South Africa, which has a very young population.
But we found some reassuring similarities between the demographic profiles of South Africa and Bangladesh, and even the proportion of the population in each country vaccinated, which makes a deep dive into the early data out of South Africa much more worthwhile.
Similarities between SA and BD
Statistics South Africa, which is a government agency, estimated the population of South Africa was 58.8 million in 2019. In this regard it is dwarfed by Bangladesh, where the population in 2019 was 164.6 million, as per the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. But there the dissimilarities end.
According to the World Population Review, which uses projections of the latest United Nations data, the median age in the two countries is very similar – 27.1 in South Africa (26.9 for males, 27. 3 for females), and 26.7 in Bangladesh (26 for males, 27.3 for females).
The two countries also have very similar population pyramids (see image), showing the distribution of the population through different age groups. Using World Bank data, we find there are similarities in the age structures of the two nations too.
In South Africa, 28.8% of the population is aged between 0-14 years; 65.6% is aged between 15-64; and 5.5% are 65 and over.
Read: South African doctors see signs omicron is milder than delta
In Bangladesh, 26.8% of the population falls in the 0-14 years category; 68% are between 15-64; and 5.2% are 65 and over.
There are striking similarities in the vaccination numbers too. In South Africa, 41% of the adult population has had at least one dose of the vaccine. In Bangladesh, a greater percentage of the population targeted for vaccination (which includes adults plus some other groups such as students) has had at least a single dose – 52%.
South Africa however has done a better job of fully vaccinating its adult population – 36% are double-jabbed. In Bangladesh, 32% of the targeted population have had their two doses of the vaccine.
South Africa’s Fourth Wave
In order to assess the situation in South Africa, we’ll look at data from the country’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the country’s National Health Laboratory Service, hospital groups, and statements of senior healthcare professionals.
The first thing to note is that cases in South Africa are undoubtedly surging. The country confirmed 22,391 new cases on Thursday, 19,018 on Friday, and 17,154 on Saturday, up from about 200 per day a few weeks ago – interestingly, about the level Bangladesh finds itself at present.
The positivity rate hit 29.8% on Thursday, a sharp increase from 1.2% reported during the first week of November.
The new surge has infected 90,000 people in the past month, Minister of Health Joe Phaahla said Friday.
“Omicron has driven the resurgence,” Phaahla said, citing studies that say 70% of the new cases nationwide are from omicron.
The R value, signifying the coronavirus reproduction rate - the number of people likely to be infected by one person – for South Africa’s current wave is 2.5, which is very high, and the highest that South Africa has recorded during the pandemic.