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Bangladesh reports 1 more Covid death, 349 cases
One more person died from Covid, and 349 tested positive for the virus in Bangladesh in the 24 hours to Monday.
While the country's total fatalities reached 29,292, the new number took its caseload to 2,005,606, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case positivity rate dropped to 5.86 percent from Sunday's 6.38 percent as 5,953 samples were tested.
Also read: Bangladesh reports 3 more Covid deaths, 365 new cases
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.46 percent. The recovery rate rose to 96.90 percent from Sunday's 96.87 percent.
Bangladesh reported its first zero Covid death on November 20 last year since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccine consignment for kids arrive in Dhaka
The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.
Dengue: 87 new patients hospitalised in 24 hrs
Another 87 dengue patients were hospitalised across the country in 24 hours till Monday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Among them, 66 patients were hospitalised in Dhaka while the 21 in other places, it said.
As many as 344 dengue patients including 267 in the capital are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.
Read: Lightning kills two, injures 7 in Natore
On Sunday, this year’s death toll from the mosquito-borne viral disease rose to10 with another death reported from Dhaka metropolitan area. Among the deaths, six were reported from Cox’s Bazar while four from Dhaka.
On June 21, the DGHS reported the first death of the season from the viral disease.
This year, the DGHS has recorded 2,747 dengue cases and 2,393 recoveries so far.
Step up efforts, invest in breastfeeding support policies, progs: UNICEF, WHO
United Nations Children's Fund – UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called on governments, donors, civil society, and the private sector to step up efforts to prioritize investing in breastfeeding support policies and programmes, especially in fragile and food insecure contexts.
“As global crises continue to threaten the health and nutrition of millions of babies and children, the vital importance of breastfeeding as the best possible start in life is more critical than ever,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a joint statement on the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week.
World Breastfeeding Week is an annual celebration which is held every year from August 1 to 7 across the world.
This World Breastfeeding Week, under its theme “Step up for breastfeeding: Educate and Support”, UNICEF and WHO are calling on governments to allocate increased resources to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding policies and programmes, especially for the most vulnerable families living in emergency settings.
During emergencies, including those in Afghanistan, Yemen, Ukraine, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel, breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious and accessible food source for babies and young children.
It offers a powerful line of defense against disease and all forms of child malnutrition, including wasting, according to the UN agencies.
“Breastfeeding also acts as a baby’s first vaccine, protecting them from common childhood illnesses,” reads the joint statement.
Read: Bangladesh ranks 'first in the world' for breastfeeding
Yet the emotional distress, physical exhaustion, lack of space and privacy, and poor sanitation experienced by mothers in emergency settings mean that many babies are missing out on the benefits of breastfeeding to help them survive.
“Fewer than half of all newborn babies are breastfed in the first hour of life, leaving them more vulnerable to disease and death. And only 44 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed in the first six months of life, short of the World Health Assembly target of 50 per cent by 2025,” according to the joint statement.
Protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding is more important than ever, not just for protecting our planet as the ultimate natural, sustainable, first food system, but also for the survival, growth, and development of millions of infants.
“That is why UNICEF and WHO are calling on governments, donors, civil society, and the private sector to step up efforts to equip health and nutrition workers in facilities and communities with the skills they need to provide quality counselling and practical support to mothers to successfully breastfeed.”
Read: Children want govt investment in education, health, protection: UNICEF
UNICEF and WHO called for protecting caregivers and health care workers from the unethical marketing influence of the formula industry by fully adopting and implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, including in humanitarian settings.
They called for implement family-friendly policies that provide mothers with the time, space, and support they need to breastfeed.
Administering 2nd dose of oral cholera vaccine begins August 3 in 5 Dhaka areas
icddr,b, under the supervision of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), will administer the second dose of oral cholera vaccine from August 3-10.
It will administer the second dose of oral cholera vaccine from 8am until 4pm (except Friday, 5 August and Ashura Day on Tuesday, 9 August).
A total of 2.36 million residents of Jatrabari, Dakshin Khan, Sabujbagh, Mohammadpur and Mirpur of Dhaka city who received the first-dose of oral cholera vaccination will be given the second-dose during this vaccination drive.
Those who received the first-dose between 26 June and 2 July can receive the second-dose by presenting their vaccine card at their respective vaccine centres.
Also read: 2.4 million Dhaka residents to receive oral cholera vaccine in one week
On this occasion, the Director of Disease Control and Line Director Disease Control Programme, DGHS, Professor Dr Mohammad Nazmul Islam, said they have received an overwhelming response from the residents of five areas of Dhaka and have been able to vaccinate a record number of residents in a very short time.
“We hope that those who have received the first dose of cholera vaccine must protect themselves against the disease by receiving the second dose as well,” he said.
Dr Firdausi Qadri, Senior Scientist and Acting Senior Director of Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b urged everyone to get vaccinated with the oral cholera vaccine, and maintain disease preventive measures such as the use of safe water, safe sanitation and personal hygiene, to be protected from many infectious diseases including diarrhoea.
The two-dose Euvichol-Plus Cholera vaccine produced by EuBiologics Co. Ltd., South Korea, which is given at least 14 days apart, will be administered to those who are above one year of age.
Also read: Cholera vaccination drive to begin from Jun 26: Health Minister
This vaccine is prequalified by the World Health Organization, and can be given to all except pregnant women and those who have received any other vaccine within the last 14 days.
icddr,b is undertaking the largest cholera vaccination campaign with support from the Dhaka North and South City Corporation and under the supervision of the DGHS.
The campaign is also supported by the National Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), World Health Organization, UNICEF, International Red Cross and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, and MSF. It is being funded by The Vaccine Alliance, GAVI.
The vaccination drive is being implemented through 700 vaccination centres in Jatrabari, Dakshin Khan, Sabujbagh, Mohammadpur and Mirpur.
Residents of these areas are being urged to take precautionary measures against COVID-19 while taking the cholera vaccine to prevent the disease and to assist in the vaccination campaign.
PM: BNP plundered national resources during its rule
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said saving power and fuel oil does not mean that there had been looting in the sector.
“Rather, BNP plundered during their regime. We after coming to power stopped that indiscriminate looting and developed the country,” she said.
The prime minister said this while inaugurating a blood donation programme arranged by the Bangladesh Krishak League in front of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi-32. She joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.
Krishak League arranged the programme and discussion as part of the month-long programme of Awami League and its associate organizations to mark the National Mourning Day commemorating the martyrdom of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hasina slammed the BNP for staging hurricane lamp protest against government's power saving measures.
"Hand them hurricane lamps instead, and show them the door," she said.
The PM said that all countries across the globe have been gone for austerity in power and fuel oil in the wake of worldwide crisis due to Russia-Ukraine war as the entire world including the developed countries are in hardship.
Read: PM urges the youth to acquire skills to become entrepreneurs
“All have to keep that in their mind. When the developed countries are facing serious troubles, we have taken pre-cautionary measurers to avoid falling in any danger in the coming days,” she said.
"Keeping that in mind we are maintaining austerity," she added.
She said that the present AL government upgraded the power sector with the capability of producing 24,000MW from only 3500MW.
“It was not possible if there were any looting here. When there is looting in any sector, it shrinks,” she said.
Hasina, also the ruling AL chief, said that those who reduced the electricity production from 4300MW to 3000MW were engaged in looting.
“And those who have been able to increase the production they utilise every penny for the betterment,” she added.
She said her government has taken all necessary measures keeping in mind the possible hardship due to Ukraine war so that the common people do not have to suffer.
She mentioned that the BNP and its allies destroyed the spirit and ideology of the nation on what Bangladesh emerged through huge sacrifice and long struggle under the leadership of Bangabandhu.
Read: PM: Useless Ukraine-Russia war benefitting only arms producers
Pointing out misrules of the regimes after 1975, the prime minister said, Zia snatched the voting rights of the people forming a party by staying in the state power illegally and gave curfew democracy instead.
The people had no rights during the tenure of military dictator Zia and so was during the Ershad regime, she said.
The PM said BNP leaders should not talk about election as the BNP staged fake voting at Magura, Mirpur and in Dhaka-10 constituency in the past.
In her speech, the Awami League President highlighted long struggles and sacrifices of the Father of the Nation since 1948 for the cause of the rights of mother tongue and establish independent Bangladesh.
Talking about the August 15 massacre, Hasina, the eldest child of Bangabandhu, in an emotion-chocked voice said that her father, mother and brothers were killed by the Bangalees for whom her father sacrificed his whole life.
“I never find the answer of this question, how the Bangalees could do such kind of hypocrisy and dishonesty?” she wondered.
She mentioned that just before 1975 there were false propaganda against Bangabandhu and his family members, and Awami League leaders.
The prime minister said that her party had been able to restore democracy in the country through long movement and struggle.
“If real democracy prevails in a country then fate of the people changes totally. Today’s Bangladesh is the example of that," she said.
She said the AL grew from the mass people and its leaders and activists are ready to sacrifice for the nation. So when this party comes to power and runs the government with ideology and policy then the country must develop, she added.
“The present Bangladesh is the great example of that,” she said.
She said that since assuming office in 2009 the government has been working tirelessly for improving the living standard of the people.
Hasina asked the Krishak League leaders and workers to continue to work following Bangabandhu’s ideology and build a hunger-and-poverty-free prosperous Bangladesh.
She mentioned that Bangabandhu was killed at a time when the nation was progressing fast towards socio-economic development under his dynamic leadership after the independence.
She thanked Krishak League for arranging the blood donation programme programme aimed at saving the life of the critical patients.
Awami League presidium member Matia Chowdhury, Presidium member and Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque, Joint Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Agriculture Secretary Faridunnanahar Laily, Organising Secretary Advocate Afzal Hossain and Office Secretary Barrister Biplob Barua also spoke at the programme.
Krishak League President Krishibid Samir Chanda presided over the function, while its General Secretary Umme Kulsum Smiriti, spoke, among others.
A minute of silence was observed in memory of the martyrs of August 15 massacre.
We can’t let blood of slain Bhola Swechchasebak Dal leader go in vain: Fakhrul
Stating that the blood of Swechchasebak Dal leader Abdur Rahim will not go in vain, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday vowed to intensify their anti-government movement by turning the grief into strength.
“The fascist Awami regime has made it clear that it wants to suppress the movement by resorting to repression through firing bullets by police. But Abdur Rahim’s blood in Bhola has proved that the people of this country will never accept the repressive policies of the despotic government,” he said.
In a brief address prior to a gayebana namaz-e-janaza in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, Fakhrul said the people of Bjola has also sent out a message that they will restore democracy and free the country from misrule even by sacrificing their lives and blood.
“We cannot let Abdur Rahim's blood go in vain. So this grief has to be transformed into strength. We must move forward holding the spirit of his (Rahim’s) sacrifice of life and blood and we have to defeat this government by intensifying our movement.”
Fakhrul alleged that police opened fire on a peaceful rally in Bhola, killing Swechasebak Dal leader Abdur Rahim and injuring over a hundred people, including BNP central leader ABM Mosharraf Hossain, there.
"The blood of my democracy-loving brothers has been shed by the police firing in Bhola. It was a completely peaceful rally demanding electricity. But the police of Sheikh Hasina's fascist government fired bullets on that rally,” he said.
As part of BNP’s countrywide demonstration programme protesting the load shedding and mismanagement in the power sector, the leaders and activists of the party gathered in front of their district party office in Bhola on Sunday morning.
Read: Hope that will get you through: Fakhrul to BNP activists
At one stage, police obstructed them when they tried to stage demonstrations at Kalinath Roy Bazar around 11:30 am, triggering a clash.
Later, police fired bullets and lobbed teargas shells that left Abdur Rahm dead and injured many other leaders and activists of the party.
BNP announced a two-day nationwide programme, including gayebana janaza in protest against police firing at the rally.
As part of the programme, the party leaders and activists joined the gayebana namaz-e-janaza in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office in memory of Abdur Rahim.
BNP senior leaders and over a hundred leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies participate in the programme.
The party will also stage demonstrations in all districts, including in Dhaka, on Tuesday in protest against the killing of Abdul Rahim, member secretary of Bhola’s South Dighaldi Union Swechchasebak Dal.
Showers likely to drench Bangladesh
With the monsoon being fairly active over Bangladesh and weak to moderate elsewhere over North Bay, the weather department has predicted showers in parts of Bangladesh in next 24 hours commencing 9am on Monday.
“Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places over Rangpur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions; at many places over Dhaka division and at a few places over Khulna, Barishal and Chattogram divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over the country,” the department said in its bulletin.
Day temperatures may fall slightly and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it added.
The weather office recorded the highest rainfall at 96mm in Tetulia of Rangpur division in 24 hours till 6am on Monday.
Read: Sylhet sizzles: Thursday hottest July day in 66 years!
The highest temperature was recorded at 36.2 degrees Celsius in Mongla of Khulna division, while the lowest temperature was recorded at 23.5 degree Celcius in Netrokona of Mymensingh division.
The axis of monsoon trough runs through Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal to Assam across central part of Bangladesh.
One of its associated troughs extends upto Northwest Bay, as per the bulletin.
261 people murdered in July: BHRC
Eight people were murdered per day on an average in the month of July this year, Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC), a local rights body, has said.
During the period, a total of 261 people were murdered in the country while only 139 people died of Covid-19, said a BHRC report on Monday.
Among them, family violence claimed most lives (15), followed by deaths from social violence (17), murders for dowry (2) and murders after abduction (2), according to the report. Besides, 31 deaths were reported as mysterious ones.
Read:Road accidents claim 166 lives, Covid 85 in Bangladesh in March: BHRC
Five political murders and two killing by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) were also documented.
“The increasing murders can be brought down to zero through dynamic activities of law enforcement agencies,” the organisation said.
Besides, two victims were murdered after rape this month. BHRC also recorded seven incidents of rape during the period.
Meanwhile, BHRC said 195 people were killed in road accidents across the country while four others took their own lives.
The organisation prepared the report based on data from its district, upazila, and municipality branches, and reports published by national newspapers.
Global Covid cases top 582 million
The overall number of Covid cases has now surged past 582 million amid a rise in new infections in Southeast Asia.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 582,173,485 and the death toll reached 6,419,833 on Monday morning.
The US has recorded 93,082,195 cases so far and 1,055,059 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
After three straight days of reporting over 20,000 new cases a day, India's daily caseload Sunday came down to 19,673, officials said.
According to federal health ministry data released on Sunday morning, 19,673 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,019,811 in the country.
Read: Biden tests positive for COVID-19, returns to isolation
The country also logged 45 related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 526,357 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.
With the increase in cases, the daily positivity rate stands at 4.96 percent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 4.88 percent, the ministry data showed.
New Zealand recorded 5,312 new community cases of COVID-19 and 28 more deaths, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.
There are currently a total of 1,502 deaths confirmed as attributable to COVID-19, either as the underlying cause of death or as a contributing factor since the pandemic began in New Zealand, the health ministry said.
New Zealand has reported 1,608,959 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.
Covid in Bangladesh
Bangladesh recorded three more Covid-linked deaths with 365 fresh cases in 24 hours till Sunday.
With the latest numbers, the total fatalities reached 29,291while the caseload 2,005,257, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily case positivity rate declined to 6.38 per cent from Saturday's 6.64 percent as 5,720 samples were tested.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.46 percent. The recovery rate rose to 96.87 per cent from Saturday's 96.84 per cent.
Dhaka’s air quality now 'moderate'
Dhaka's air quality became ‘moderate’ Monday morning.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 53, recorded at 9 am, the metropolis ranked 35th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Chile’s Santiago, Pakistan’s Lahore and South Africa’s Johannesburg occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 160, 144 and 134, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
Read:Air quality remains 'moderate' in Dhaka
AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy during winter and improves during monsoon.
A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites".
With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction works, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources.
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.