pandemic
How to celebrate EID safely during COVID-19 pandemic
Last year, we had a whole new experience celebrating Eid in the wake of the coronavirus. No Iftar parties were organized, prayers were offered in the mosque as per guidelines, and donations were made while maintaining social distance. Muslims were forced to abstain from Eid hugging due to fears of coronavirus infection. In a word, this epidemic has taught people to think in new ways. In 2021, everyone will have to face the same kind of experience while celebrating Eid because the coronavirus outbreak has not decreased yet. This article will guide you on how to celebrate EID during the pandemic coronavirus.
Ways to celebrate EID safely amidst pandemic
As we are now going through a crisis, more emphasis should be given to humanitarian issues rather than lavish Eid celebrations. In that case, the following aspects should be taken into consideration.
Why should you be concerned with coronavirus?
Coronavirus is a deadly flu that attacks the human respiratory system directly and kills within hours due to low oxygen levels. Therefore, coronavirus should not be taken lightly. At present, thousands of people in India die every day as a result of this pandemic. COVID variants of different types have been detected in India, and the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate. Some citizens in Bangladesh have already tested positive for the Indian variant. The situation will get even more severe if we remain ignorant.
Many people risk their lives to go to their homes for celebrating Eid with their families. As a result, large crowds can be seen at river ports, bus terminals, and railway stations. Health guidelines are not followed properly in these places and increase the risk of coronavirus infection. Everyone should be aware to prevent its spread. It would be inappropriate to go out this Eid unless there's an emergency. Stay at home and be safe.
Read: Delicious Homemade Dessert Ideas for Eid and Other Celebrations
Celebrate Eid with your family at home
The main goal for this Eid should be to spend more time with family at home. Everyone in the family should be aware of the current global situation caused by the coronavirus. Then everyone will be aware of themselves. Due to the epidemic, there should be some variation rather than organizing a simple Eid. In addition to making healthy Eid food, we should eat vitamin C and more fruits to better our immune system. Even, order your favorite things online rather than going to the mall for shopping. Try to make the most of Eid by chatting with family or doing something interesting.
Read: Top Online Shops to Find Sports Equipment in Bangladesh
Maintain social distance when traveling
Although the lockdown constraints have been relaxed and travel is permitted in celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr, it is important that you adhere to the social distancing laws. You must thoroughly wash your hands and face after returning home from outside. Wash and clean everything in your house, be health-conscious when dealing with visitors from outside, and always wear a mask. Furthermore, any substance brought in from the outside must be cleaned. It is important to remember the coronavirus can be spread at any time if you are not properly health conscious.
Communicate with relatives and offer help to the poor
Getting in touch with relatives is invaluable during these challenging times. In addition to checking on relatives this Eid, those who are financially impoverished should be helped. It is better to pay both Zakat and Fitra during the month of Ramadan. You must try to complete these two tasks before the Eid prayer. Besides that, it would be great if we could assist the orphans. Many people are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, so you can help the needy and engage in humanitarian work. Eid means "Festival of Breaking the Fast," and the true celebration of Eid can only be successful if this joy can be spread among all.
Read: BashontiNibash, One Taka Hotel: First women-only hotel in Bangladesh by Bidyanondo
Bottom Line
Everybody should be careful when celebrating Eid during the pandemic coronavirus. People must maintain social distance as long as the symptoms of covid-19 are present. It would be unacceptable to do something that would infect coronavirus while celebrating Eid, as we are going through a very difficult time right now. We must show the ultimate objective of Ramadan; which is patience, humility, and empathy for others. Only then the Eid celebration will be successful.
Read: Bangladesh Cricket’s Next Generation Superstars: Potential Youngsters Who Could Lead the National Team
Almost 6 million primary, secondary students at risk of learning loss
Around 6 million primary and secondary students are at risk of learning loss due to the extended closure of the educational institutions in the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study report revealed Monday.
Since the closure of schools in March 2020, there have been severe disruptions in the education of children, especially those from low-income groups.
The extended closure has led to far-reaching consequences including an increased risk of learning losses, dropouts, and psychological and economic costs, says the survey "Covid-19 Impact on Education Life of Children."
Also read: Schools for over 168mn children globally shut for almost a full year: UNICEF
Some 3.42 million are primary school students and 2.50 million secondary school students are now at risk of learning loss.
Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC) and Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) jointly conducted the rapid telephonic survey between April 2020 and March 2021 to assess the impact of Covid-19 on poverty. It used samples from 6,099 households with around 4,940 consisting of school-going-age children.
Between June 2020 and March 2021, the out-of-pocket expenditure for education increased 11 times. The crisis has increased the opportunity cost of investing in education. Some 8% of school-going boys and 3% of school-going girls are in some form of income-earning activity.
Read No assignments for secondary school students
Without targeted remedial measures, the situation will lead to reduced learning capacity or risk of dropouts in future, says the study.
The survey also revealed that only around 10% of students had access to or used distance learning opportunities to compensate for school closure; public TV classes were viewed by only around 2%.
Some 51% in primary and 61% secondary students went to coaching or private tuition. However, it was lower in urban compared to rural primarily due to higher costs.
Read UN alarm at education crisis: 258 million kids not in school
Even in pre-pandemic times, a greater proportion of secondary school-going-age children were out of school (21%) than primary (14%). More children were out of school in urban slums than rural areas at both primary and secondary levels.
"A significant portion of school-going children are at risk of learning loss. So, school reopening must be coupled with a set of remedial measures to cover the learning loss and help children to cope up," said BIGD Executive Director Dr Imran Matin.
PPRC Chair Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman focused on three main consequences of school closures – learning loss, education cost burdens, and multidimensional social alienation.
Also read: 60.5 percent people in favour of reopening schools: Survey
He said outside class hours, additional programmes are required as a learning loss recovery strategy to mitigate the loss as part of a post-Covid human capital agenda. "Otherwise, a large part of our population will not only be far removed from education but also become deskilled," he added.
Dr Zillur recommended that existing primary and secondary stipend programmes be used to redress the out-of-pocket education cost burdens.
"Using the established database, the government can quickly provide a cash boost by allocating Tk2,960 crore in the 2021-22 budget," he said.
Read 86,452 primary students get stipend, allowance through Nagad in phase 1
What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
In medical science, vaccines are used to prevent certain diseases. Getting the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent coronavirus is not different. However, it is not a myth that you can get affected by COVID even after getting the vaccine. After more than a year of fighting against the deadly virus, many institutes bring out the vaccine. While all the vaccines are tested before bringing out to the market, no vaccine can guarantee 100% prevention of COVID-19. Therefore, a small percentage of people will still get COVID-19 after the full vaccination or even the first dose, which is called “vaccine breakthrough cases.”
Although vaccine breakthrough cases for the coronavirus are significantly low, researchers are trying to find out the causes.
Read Online Pharmacy: Where to Buy Medicine in Dhaka during coronavirus home quarantine.
Reasons to get affected by COVID even after the vaccination
According to the general theory, if anyone exposed to the virus is likely to get infected. However, the vaccine should be able to prevent it. But, in some cases, a person could be affected right after the first dose or even after the full vaccination. Typically, the COVID-19 vaccine takes two weeks to build protection in the body. So, it is normal that a person can get infected if the vaccine has not had enough time to build the antibody.
Another reason to get attacked by the new variants. While the current data suggest that vaccines will give protection against all types of variants, research is still going on. However, some variants might show regular symptoms of coronavirus in some people after they get both doses.
Also read: How to strengthen your immune system to prevent COVID-19 infections?
What does it feel like infected by COVID-19 after vaccination?
Even though a tiny percentage of fully vaccinated people might get sick, the vaccine will surely protect most of the people from getting affected. There is some evidence that getting COVID-19 after the vaccination may make the illness less severe. Despite this, if fully vaccinated people get affected, they might have chances to be hospitalized and die.
However, the overall chances of hospitalization and death among the vaccinated people will be lower than the people who are not vaccinated. The symptoms of COVID-19 for the fully vaccinated people will be similar to the regular COVID symptoms such as fever, tiredness, and dry coughs.
Less common symptoms include sore throat, headache, diarrhea, aches and pains, loss of smell or taste, and rashes on skins. Further, the serious symptoms might show chest pain or pressure, breathing difficulty, and loss of speech or movement.
Also read: Safe Lifestyle in COVID-19 Lockdown: Do's, Don'ts, and Precautions
However, the good thing is that vaccine breakthrough cases are rare. Although there is no report to get affected after vaccination in Bangladesh, about 0.01 percent of Americans are known to be infected following the vaccination.
According to data, of the 95+ million vaccinated United States population, only 9,245 people are reported to be affected. All these data suggest that the vaccine is effective against the coronavirus, and getting affected after vaccination is rare should be counted as normal.
Read Top health apps for online doctor consultation services in Bangladesh
Dhaka lauds IOC WESTPAC for taking initiatives amid pandemic
Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen has appreciated the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) for its admirable initiatives amid the trying times of pandemic.
He urged for prioritising capacity development of the member states and coming up with specially tailored capacity-building programmes based on the realities of this region.
The Senior Secretary of Bangladesh delivered the concluding remarks on behalf of the host country on the final day of the three-day 13th Intergovernmental Session of the IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) on Thursday.
He conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to all the participants for their wholehearted cooperation in arranging this successful session.
Amazon’s profit more than triples as pandemic boom continues
Amazon’s pandemic boom isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
The company said Thursday that its first-quarter profit more than tripled from a year ago, fueled by the growth of online shopping. It also posted revenue of more than $100 billion, the second quarter in a row that the company has passed that milestone.
Amazon is one of the few retailers that has benefited during the pandemic. As physical stores temporarily closed, people stuck at home turned to Amazon to buy groceries, cleaning supplies and more. That doesn’t seem to be dying down.
Also read: Amazon gets Thursday night games, NFL nearly doubles TV deal
In the first three months of this year, the company reported profit of $8.1 billion, compared to $2.5 billion the year before. Earnings per share came to $15.79, about $6 more per share than what Wall Street analysts expected, according to FactSet.
Revenue jumped 44% to $108.5 billion. Seattle-based Amazon is one of four American companies that have reported quarterly revenue above $100 billion. The others are iPhone maker Apple, oil and gas company Exxon Mobil and retailer Walmart.
Also read: Amazon takes early lead as union vote count gets underway
Amazon said revenue will remain at that level in the second quarter, expecting between $110 billion and $116 billion. Part of the reason why: It plans to hold Prime Day, its popular sales event, during the quarter. Amazon didn’t specify a date for Prime Day, but said it would happen before the end of June.
Besides online shopping, Amazon’s other businesses grew, too. Sales at its cloud-computing business, which helps power the online operations of Netflix, McDonald’s and other companies, grew 32% in the quarter. And at its unit that includes its advertising business, where brands pay to get their products to show up first when shoppers search on the site, sales rose 77%.
Amazon’s growth comes as it faces activism from within its workforce. Workers at a warehouse in Alabama tried to unionize, saying they wanted better pay and more break time. But a majority of voters batted down that effort.
This week, Amazon announced it was giving more than 500,000 workers a raise of between 50 cents and $3 an hour starting next month to attract new workers. The company already pays at least $15 an hour.
Also read: Amazon jumps into health care with telemedicine initiative
The online shopping giant has been on a hiring spree to keep up with a surge in orders. It had 1.27 million employees at the end of March, adding more than 430,000 people in the last year.
Shares of Amazon.com Inc., which are up 40% in the last year, rose 2.6% in after-hours trading Thursday.
DU admission tests rescheduled amid pandemic
The Dhaka University (DU) authorities have rescheduled the dates of the Bachelor entrance examinations considering the country's Covid-19 situation.
The Public Relations officer of the university issued a notice in this regard on Thursday.
According to the revised schedule, 'Ka' unit admission test will be held on August 6, 'Kha' unit admission test on August 7, 'Ga' unit on August 13, 'Gha' unit on August 14 and 'Cha' unit (general knowledge) on July 31.
The date for 'Cha' unit admission test (drawing) will be informed in due time, it said.
Also read: DU online admission process begins
The decision was taken at an emergency virtual meeting of the DU General Admission Committee chaired by the Vice-chancellor Professor Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman on Thursday.
Admit cards of all units can be downloaded from 10th July until 30 minutes before the exams begin.
Also read: DU to take admission tests offline; cuts marks in half
However, other guidelines and conditions for the admission test will remain unchanged.
Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday (April 28, 2021) approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
“The cabinet body has approved in principle the Health Ministry’s proposal to facilitate the production of Russian and Chinese vaccines,” said Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, while briefing reporters after the meeting.
Also Read: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine
She noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM) which means the Health Ministry will not require to follow any competitive bidding princess.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the virtual meeting where the proposal was placed by the Health Ministry on an emergency basis.
Also Read: Will take 2 weeks to get vaccine from alternative sources
Dr Shahida Aktar said Russia’s Sputnik-V and China’s Sinopharm will be produced in Bangladesh using the facilities and logistics of different private pharmaceutical companies.
“No name of any specific companies was discussed at the meeting. But it was agreed in principle that the Russian and Chinese authorities will examine facilities and then things will be settled about who will produce the vaccines,” he added.
Read Covid-19: Mexico to join clinical trials of Russian vaccine
The approval from the government’s top authority came within a day of the government’s move to produce Covid-19 vaccines from Russian and China after India imposed a ban on the export of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine by Serum Institute to Bangladesh.
Mustafa Kamal said though Bangladesh approved Russian and Chinese vaccines’ local production, it will continue to its drive to have vaccine doses from India.
Read Myanmar registers Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine
“We didn’t give up the hope about getting vaccine jabs from India,” he told the reporters.
India records 320K cases as foreign help arrives
India recorded more than 320,000 new cases of coronavirus infection Tuesday as a grim surge of illness and death weighed on the country and its sinking health system started getting much-needed support from foreign nations.
Tuesday’s 323,144 new infections raised India’s total past 17.6 million, behind only the United States. It ended a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic, but the decline likely reflects lower weekend testing rather than reduced spread of the virus.
The health ministry also reported another 2,771 deaths in the past 24 hours, with roughly 115 Indians succumbing to the disease every hour. The latest fatalities pushed India’s fatalities to 197,894, behind the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. Experts say even these figures are probably an undercount.
Also read: Virus ‘swallowing’ people in India; crematoriums overwhelmed
Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted photos Tuesday of the first shipment of medical aid India received from Britain. It included 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators.
Other nations like the U.S., Germany, Israel, France and Pakistan have also promised medical aid to India. The countries have said they will supply oxygen, diagnostic tests, treatments, ventilators and protective gear to help India at the time of crisis which World Health Organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday called “beyond heartbreaking.”
The surge, spurred by insidious new variants of coronavirus, has undermined the Indian government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic. The country of nearly 1.4 billion people is facing a chronic shortage of space on its intensive care wards. Hospitals are experiencing oxygen shortages and many people are being forced to turn to makeshift facilities for mass burials and cremations as the country’s funeral services have become overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, in a bid to tackle the shortage of beds, Indian authorities are turning to train carriages, which have been converted into isolation wards. India has also started airlifting oxygen tankers to states in need. Special trains with oxygen supplies are also running in the country.
France was sending breathing machines, ICU gear and eight oxygen generators in a shipment expected to be sent later this week. Each generator can equip a hospital of 250 beds for several years, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said.
France will also send breathing machines, pumps and containers of liquid medical oxygen aimed at helping up to 10,000 patients per day, according to the French Foreign Ministry. That first oxygen shipment is expected to arrive from Europe to India next week.
Also read: UK to send medical supplies to India
The White House was moving to share raw materials for the production of the AstraZeneca vaccine with India by diverting some U.S. orders to the vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India.
White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told The Associated Press that the Biden administration was working to satisfy other “key requests” from the Indian government, namely for personal protective equipment, tests, therapeutics and supplies of oxygen and respiratory assistance devices.
Epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were also expected to soon travel to India to assist with its virus response.
Also read: Indian court raps poll panel for rising Covid cases
What was with that weird Oscar ending?
The 93rd annual Academy Awards were always going to be a bit surreal this year.
The pandemic changed many of the usual rhythms and traditions of the Oscars on Sunday night. There was a glamour-filled red carpet but no onlookers or teams of publicists. There were in-person, mask-less winners but not in the usual order, and the speeches were never drowned out with play-off music.
Compounding the differences this year was a telecast, steered by producers Steven Soderbergh, Jesse Collins and Stacy Sher, that wanted a new look and feel to an often stodgy, persistently unchanging ceremony.
Also read: Not quite a movie, but the Oscars were a love letter
But what was with that ending? How staged was Glenn Close’s dance? And where, oh where, was the play-off music? Here’s my best try to answer some of the nights befuddlements.
THE ENDING — WHY?
The Oscars have known more dramatic and more shambolic endings (“Envelopegate” was a mere four years ago) but this may have set a new bar for anti-climactic. You would swear someone even played a sad trombone.
Going into Sunday, the show’s producers had said they wanted to take “some big swings” in the telecast. One turned out to be switching the normal awards order. Best director, usually one of the final awards, was handed out mid-show. Best picture was third-to-last and the night’s final two awards were best actress and best actor. Presumably, the thinking was that best actor would go to Chadwick Boseman (he won virtually every best-actor trophy leading up to the Oscars), and thus end the ceremony on a meaningful note of tribute.
But there had been hints of an upset. Two weeks earlier, Anthony Hopkins won at the BAFTAs, an award he was also absent for — though the show managed to track him down in his native Wales to talk to the BAFTA press. The Oscars had pressed nominees to attend, if possible, or join from a remote location. But the 83-year-old Hopkins ( who became the oldest actor to win an Oscar, his second ) elected not to travel to Los Angeles or the hub in London. Knighted living legends who adore the Welsh countryside get to do that. Only the next morning did Sir Anthony, with a bucolic vista behind him, post an Instagram video of thanks, and a few words on the late Boseman. “At 83 years of age, I did not expect to get his award, I really didn’t,” he said.
Posthumous Oscars are also hard to come by. There’s a reason it’s only happened twice before among actors (Peter Finch and Heath Ledger). For some voters, it can seem like a wasted vote, since the honoree isn’t there to accept it. And one of the longest Oscar seasons ever (the ceremony was postponed two months) may have sapped some of the momentum for Boseman, who died last August; some may have felt he had been already honored by previous awards like at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Perhaps the Independent Spirit Awards on Thursday supplied foreshadowing when Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”) was chosen over Boseman.
The Oscars haven’t always ended with best picture, but it’s been more than 40 years since another category was last. Even the best-picture winners — who usually conclude the telecast with trophies raised — weren’t expecting it.
“It surely was a surprise,” said “Nomadland” producer Dan Janvey backstage to reporters. “I think a lot of us grew up watching the Oscars and I’ve gotten used to it being last.”
But on Sunday, the category switcheroo culminated in an absent winner and a strange empty-stage finale — a fitting end to a thoroughly strange movie year.
Also read: Frances McDormand a double Oscar winner for 'Nomadland'
WHERE WAS THE PLAY-OFF MUSIC?
No snark was part of the mandate of this year’s Oscars, Sher said. From top to bottom, the show was a sincere celebration of cinema and the night’s nominees. Introductions were lengthy and detailed. And when winners clutched their Oscars, they were given wide latitude to speak. Not once did music director Questlove turn up the music. This was partly because the show had more time. Performances of the best song nominees were pre-taped and aired during the red-carpet preshow, meaning the broadcast — which also had few comedy bits — wasn’t in a race. That went with the overall tone of the show: To earnestly celebrate the artistry and craft of moviemaking. On-camera talent, Soderbergh noted before the show, only accounts for a fraction of a film set.
WHY DID FRANCES MCDORMAND HOWL?
“We give this one to our wolf,” McDormand said while accepting the best picture award for “Nomadland.” McDormand, a producer as well as star of Chloé Zhao’s film, let a howl that could have been a reference to her nomadic, lone wolf character in a melancholic open-road tale about the primal necessities of life. But McDormand’s howl was more pointedly poignant than that. It was a way to honor Michael Wolf Snyder, the film’s production sound mixer, who died in March at the age of 35. “That howling to the moon is for Wolf,” Zhao explained to members of the press. McDormand earlier said of Snyder in a statement to Variety: “Wolf recorded our heartbeats. Our every breath. For me, he is ‘Nomadland."
Also read: A complete list of all the winners at the 2021 Oscars
WHY DID THE SHOW LOOK DIFFERENT?
Soderbergh conceived of the telecast a movie, complete with opening credits (presenters were the cast), a slinky opening tracking shot with Regina King and all the technical aspects of film. That included a more letterbox format, a frame rate of 24 instead of the more typical television rates of 30 or 60. Whatever you thought of the show, it had to be the best looking Oscars in ages.
WAS CLOSE’S DANCE REHEARSED?
Well of course it was. Close did her best to suggest her knowledge of Experience Unlimited’s “Da Butt” (featured in Spike Lee’s “School Daze”) was completely off the cuff, but Lil Rel Howery acknowledged during the post-show that their music trivia bit had been discussed beforehand. Still, credit the 74-year-old Close for being willing to boogie shortly after losing out on an Oscar for the eighth time — a record among living performers.
Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole
Liquid oxygen import from India remained suspended at Benapole check-post for the past four days as the neighboring country has been struggling with shortage of oxygen amid the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic.
The last oxygen-laden tanker was unloaded on April 22 and last week 29 tankers with around 1,815 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen was imported from India through Benapole port, said Deputy Commissioner Mustafizur Rahman of Benapole Customs House.
Also read: Border with India to remain shut for 14 days: FM
Bangladeshi company Linde Bangladesh imported the liquid oxygen, he said.
Customs sources said every month around 30,000 metric tonnes of oxygen is imported from India as the country is one of the key exporters of oxygen to Bangladesh.
In recent times demand for oxygen cylinders increased rapidly due to the second wave of Coronavirus and the suspension also causing Bangladeshi traders a huge economic blow and crisis in the medical services.
Read Chandpur General Hospital to get oxygen plant
Representative of Indian oxygen importers and Bangladesh-India Chamber of Commerce Director Motiar Rahman said India currently suspended the export as the country witnessed a record number of infections and deaths in recent time.
Oxygen is the key factor for saving lives of Covid-19 infected patients, he said, hoping that India will resume the export for the sake of friendship between the two countries.
Linde Bangladesh is also planning to import oxygen from Singapore, he added.
Also read: Netherlands to ban flights from India over virus fears