COVID-19 deaths
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Bangladesh reported 45 more Coronavirus related deaths with 1285 new cases in 24 hours until Saturday morning amid concern after the detection of first case of highly contagious Indian Coronavirus strain in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,878 while the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent.
Besides, the DGHS said, 1,285 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 14,703 samples, taking the total case count to 772,127.
Also, the country's infection rate fell to 8.74%, which was 9.89% a day ago, according to the DGHS.
The number of Covid deaths came down to as low as 50 after over a month on Wednesday as Bangladesh saw 50 deaths earlier on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
Also read: Bangladesh detects 1st case of Indian Coronavirus strain
According to the DGHS, 2,492 infected people recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.54%.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,613 ,979 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Dhaka, worst hit region as death toll nears 7,000
Dhaka remained the worst hit region by the virus, recording 6,900 fatalities or 58.09% of the total deaths until now.
Twenty-one of the 45 virus related deaths recorded today are from Dhaka and 13 are from Chattogram.
Indian Coronavirus strain detected
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, confirmed Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR).
The Indian strain of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
The new strain was detected in samples collected from recent India returnee passengers in Bangladesh.
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh.
Into the third week of extended lockdown
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday. However, launch and train services will remain off.
Also read: New Covid-19 strain found in 10 EU returnees: Maleque
Amid a mad rush of home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Banglabazar routes have been suspended today to curb the spread of Covid-19.
However, vessels carrying patients and goods will be allowed to cross the rivers, said BIWTC public relations officer Nazrul Islam.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended in Bangladesh since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Dwindling vaccine stock
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs left with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, "We had around 1 crore and 2 lakh doses. Around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we've some 14 lakh doses in stock."
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Vaccine expected from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the USA as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Vaccine production
With India slapping a ban on the export of AstraZeneca vaccines made by its Serum Institute, Bangladesh is trying to get technology from Russia and China to produce their vaccines locally.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
"We'll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as a gift within 7-10 days. Then the government will start buying those on a G2G basis," Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration told reporters.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
Amid the declining trend in Covid-19 infections and fatalities after an alarming surge in April, Bangladesh registered 41 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Thursday, pushing up the total fatalities to 11,796.
This is the lowest number of Covid deaths in the country after March 28 this year. Bangladesh saw 35 deaths on March 28.
However, 1,822 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 21,585 samples.
The mortality rate remained static at 1.53 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout.
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month on Wednesday as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Manwhile, the daily infection rate fell to 8.44 percent from Wednesday’s 8.59 percent, according to the data provided by DGHS.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,69,160.
The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Around 21 pc of total deaths reported in April alone
Until now, the country has tested 55,82,263 samples.
In the last 24 hours, 3,698 patients recovered from Covid-19, putting the recovery rate at 91.29 %.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year, before confirming the first death 10 days later.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose and new registration for Covid-19 jab has remained suspended since April 26.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister
In the last 24 hours, 43 people have received the first dose and 102,915 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 33,13,424 people managed to complete their second dose.
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we’ve some 14 lakh doses in stock.”
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM
Vaccine production
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Sputnik V vaccine of Russia.
“We’ll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as gift within 7-10 days. Then we’ll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on G2G basis,” Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA told reporters.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
Lockdown extended until May 16
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Also read: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Bangladesh recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death figure, the mortality from the Coronavirus rose to 11,755, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new cases during the period.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,67,338.
However, the infection rate fell to 8.59 percent from Tuesday’s 8.71 percent while the fatality rate remained static at 1.53 percent.
The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
In the last 24 hours, 427 labs across the country tested 20,284 samples.
Among the recent deaths, 32 were men while 18 were women.
Besides 3,433 patients recovered from Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.02%.
Also Read: Serum to return money if fails to provide vaccine: Finance Minister
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended since April 26, and no one in the country has received the second dose in the last 48 hours.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
In the last 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 31,06709 people managed to complete their second dose.
Also Read: Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we’ve some 14 lakh doses in stock.”
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Also Read: New variant may be behind Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Lockdown extended
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Around 21 pc of total deaths reported in April alone
Covid-19 claimed 2,404 lives in April alone in Bangladesh, the cruellest month for the country since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
Of the total 11,450 coronavirus-related deaths reported until April 30, 2,404 or 20.99 percent alone were recorded in the previous month.
During the last one month, 147,837 infections were officially registered, according to the handout of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
As the virus continues its onslaught, 568 people lost their lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,714 or 58.33%.
According to the DGHS handout, Bangladesh broke all previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities in a 24-hour period on April 19.
On April 7, the country recorded its highest single-day cases of 7,626. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.
The country is passing through a ‘strict’ lockdown since April 14 but people are still indifferent towards health guidelines and safety rules.
Also read: FM to join China-led virtual meeting on vaccine cooperation
The government later extend the ongoing lockdown till May 5.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
The death toll from Covid-19 hit 11,510 in Bangladesh on Saturday as the country logged 60 more fatalities in 24 hours until Saturday morning, as all efforts to stop the pandemic have apparently gone in vain.
However, the country reported new cases of 1,452 during the 24-hour period ending at 8am, which was said to the lowest daily count in 48 days.
The overall infection tally reached 760,584 with the new cases and the positivity rate fell to 9.61% from Friday's 10.34%. But the death rate remained unchanged at 1.51%, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country's infection rate came down below 10% on Thursday after over a month, as it reported a 7.68% infection rate on March 17 and it rose to 10.45% the following day. Since then, the infection rate began an upward march.
Also read: Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines
Bangladesh on Friday reported its single-day Covid-19 death toll of 57, the lowest in 25 days.
According to the DGHS, 684,671 infected people have recovered from the disease so far and 3,245 of them in the past 24 hours.
Bangladesh’s Covid death toll nears 11,000 as cases surge
Bangladesh recorded 83 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours until Saturday morning, raising the total fatalities to 10,952.
Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities crossed 10,000 on April 15 and the death tally reached near 11,000 within 10 days as the country finds it hard to deal with the pandemic.
With the latest figure, the mortality rate rose to 1.48 percent from Friday’s 1.47 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
Also read: Govt mulls resuming public transport services
Besides, 2,697 new cases were detected during the period after examining 20,571 samples.
The daily infection rate fell to 13.11 percent from Friday’s 14 percent.
Bangladesh has so far tested 5,323,579 samples.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
With the news cases, the total caseload reached 742,400 while the total number of recoveries is 653,151, including 5477 in the last 24 hours.
April sees 1,906 coronavirus deaths
April has been the deadliest month since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, with 1,906 deaths and 127,632 new cases being recorded in the past 24 days.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,345 or 58.41 percent.
Also read: 25 Covid patients die in Delhi hospital
Fifty-two of the 83 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 13 from Chattogram division.
Three each died in Rajshahi, Sylhet, Rangpur, four in Barishal and five in Khulna divisions.
Of 1,068 ICU hospital beds across the country, 322 are now available.
Meanwhile, 7,074 general hospital beds, out of 12,237, are unoccupied right now.
The surge in Covid infections prompted the government to go for a lockdown from early April but it turned out to be lax and loose. From April 11, the government imposed a ‘stricter lockdown’ and later extended it upto April 28.
On Friday, the government allowed shopping malls to reopen from April 25.
Improvement ‘unlikely before June’
Meanwhile, a group of experts from both Bangladesh and Oxford University said that the country will witness the similar infection rate intermittently till the end of May while the situation may improve in June.
The possibility was projected in a mathematical model used by Bangladesh Como Modelling Group.
Vaccination campaign
Launched on February 7, a vaccination drive is underway across Bangladesh with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the vaccine. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the vaccine doses uncertain.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister AK Momen assured people that there will be adequate doses of the vaccine.
So far, 5,778,686 people have received the first dose and 1,967,975 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Also read: COVID-19 continues to disrupt essential health services in 90pc of countries: WHO
Covid-19: Bangladesh records 88 deaths, 3629 new cases
Bangladesh recorded 88 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours until Friday morning as the country grapples to tackle the second wave of the virus.
The health authorities also reported 3,629 new cases, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout.
The coronavirus death toll now stands at 10,869 with the mortality rate slightly rising to 1.47 percent after staying at 1.46 for the last two days.
Meanwhile, the daily infection rate fell to 14 percent from Thursday’s 14.63 percent.
Between April 16 and 19, the country recorded over 100 deaths breaking previous daily records. Bangladesh saw 91, 95 and 98 Covid-related deaths on April 20, 21 and 22 respectively.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 98 more deaths, 4014 new infections
Health authorities have so far confirmed 739,703 cases. Among them, 647,674 people - 87.56 percent of all patients – have recovered.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 98 more deaths, 4014 new infections
Bangladesh recorded 98 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours as the deadly second wave of the virus overwhelms hospitals and pushes the health sector to its limits.
The virus also infected 4,014 others during the period, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
Coronavirus deaths now stand at 10,781 with a mortality rate of 1.46 percent, according to DGHS. The daily infection rate fell to 14.63 percent from Wednesday’s 15.07 percent.
On Monday, the country had broken all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities. It saw over 100 deaths on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Health authorities have so far confirmed 736,074 cases. Among them, 642,449 people - 87.28 percent of all patients – have recovered.
Also read:Covid-19 vaccine not a 'silver bullet': WHO
1.2 mln infections in April
April has been the deadliest month since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic with 1,735 deaths and 121,306 new cases recorded in the last 22 days.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
India records fresh high of nearly 300,000 new COVID-19 cases, over 2,000 more deaths
India recorded 295,041 new COVID-19 cases and 2,023 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the caseload to 15,616,130 and the death toll to 182,553, according to data released by the health ministry on Wednesday.
There are still 2,157,538 active cases in the country, with an increase of 125,561 through Tuesday, while 13,276,039 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals.
Although the COVID-19 figures continue to peak in the country, the federal government has ruled out a complete lockdown. The capital Delhi has been put under a week-long lockdown till April 26.
The number of daily active cases has been on the rise over the past few weeks, after once coming down to below 10,000 in January.
So far over 130 million vaccination doses have been administered in India since the country started the nationwide inoculation drive in January.
Also read: Indian capital gasps for oxygen
Meanwhile, 271,053,392 tests have been conducted till Tuesday, out of which 1,639,357 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, according to the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on Wednesday.
Also read: India's capital to lock down as nation's virus cases top 15M
The national capital Delhi, one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, witnessed 28,395 new cases and 277 deaths through Tuesday. A total of 12,638 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Daily death toll falls, but it’s still 91
After recording over 100 daily Covid-19 deaths for four consecutive days, Bangladesh registered 91 more fatalities in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, showing a little bit of fall in the death toll.
Besides, 4,559 people got infected by the deadly virus during the period, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Also read:No risk of contracting Covid-19 due to vaccination: DGHS
On Monday, the country had broken all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities.
The latest figure pushed up the death tally to 10,588 with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent.
The fresh Covid-19 cases were reported after testing 27,056 samples. The infection rate dropped to 16.85 percent from 17.68 percent on Monday, the handout said.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, while the first death on March 18 that year.
Health authorities have so far confirmed 727,780 cases. Among them, 628,111 people - 86.31 percent of all patients – have recovered.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Lockdown
A ‘strict’ lockdown is underway across the country at the moment but people still seem apathetic towards health guidelines and safety rules.
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week from April 22 in an effort to bring the situation under control.
Cause of concern
Concerns about the spread of more contagious and deadlier variants of the virus were raised by experts.
Research by the icddr,b has found that the South African variant accounted for 81 percent of the positive cases in Dhaka since the third week of March this year.
Covid-19: Global cases near 142 million, deaths top 3 million
The Covid-19 situation is worsening around the world with each passing day, despite mass vaccinations.
While the global death toll from the virus has already topped three million, the total
case count is fast nearing the grim milestone of 142 million, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
To be specific, the total caseload reached 141,819,360 while the fatalities climbed to 3,027,353 on Tuesday morning.
The US has logged 31,737,347 cases and 567,960 deaths to date.
Also read: COVID-19 infections approaching highest rates ever, WHO warns
The US remains the world’s worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths respectively. However, deaths in the US are down to about 700 per day on an average, plummeting from a mid-January peak of about 3,400, reports AP.
Brazil's Covid-19 death toll on Monday reached 374,682 while the total number of cases in the South American country mounted to 13,973,695, as per the university data.
In neighbouring India, the total Covid-19 case count has surpassed 15 million.
The national tally of the country stands at 15,061,919 and the death toll at 178,769 as of Tuesday morning, according to official figures released by the government.
Also read: India records over 260,000 daily COVID-19 cases, tally at 14,788,109
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh again broke all previous records of Covid-19 deaths, registering 112 fatalities in 24 hours till Monday morning.
The country saw over 100 deaths for the fourth consecutive day.
The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,497 with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
Besides, 4,271 new cases were reported during the period after testing 24,152 samples. The infection rate was 17.68 percent, down from 19.06 percent on Sunday.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
The health authorities have so far confirmed 723,221 cases. Among them, 621,300 people -- 85.91 percent of all patients -- have recovered.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
The government has decided to extend the ongoing lockdown by another week from April 22.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports record 112 daily deaths
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India for acquiring 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on February 7.
So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose of the vaccine and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
There are growing calls for speeding up the vaccination programme as hospitals are flooded with patients.