COVID-19
Bangladesh still in life-and-death race with Covid; 226 more die
When the lockdown restrictions were eased on one hand ahead of Eid, Bangladesh recorded its second highest 226 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning on the other.
Besides, 12,236 fresh cases were detected during the period.
The new numbers took the country’s death tally to 17,278 and the caseload to 10,71,774, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases were detected after testing 46,604 samples during the period, bringing down the case positivity rate to 27. 23% from Wednesday’s 29.14%.
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the 24-hour period.
Read: Covid shatters all records in Bangladesh with 230 single-day deaths
The country saw a record number of 13,768 Covid cases on Monday and the highest-ever 230 deaths on Sunday.
So far, 905,807 people have recovered from the disease, taking the country’s recovery rate to 84.51%.
Of the deceased, 72 died in Dhaka division, 52 in Khulna, 42 in Chattogram, 28 in Rajshahi, 13, Rangpur, 10 in Mymensingh, six in Barishal, and five died in Sylhet.
Among them, 140 were men and 86 women.
Age breakdown: One of the deceased was between 0-10, one was between 11-20, six were between 21-30, 12 between 31-40, 36 between 41-50, 49 between 51-60, 50 were between 61-70, 44 were between 71-80, 22 were between 81-90, three were between 91-100 and two were above 100 years of age.
Read: No respite from Covid deaths in Bangladesh; 220 more lose battle
Vaccination drive
According to the handout, 1,32,604 people received the first dose of Sinopharm vaccine, 6,267 from Pfizer and 39,325 from Moderna during the 24-hour period.
Expanding the vaccine eligibility target, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said everyone above 18 years will gradually be vaccinated in Bangladesh.
“Arrangements are being made to gradually bring all citizens above 18 years under the Covid-19 vaccination programme in order to revive the country's education system,” he said.
Zahid Maleque came up with the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a progamme on Covid-19 ICU Bed Expansion and inauguration of the Outpatient Department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
Read: Covid claims 210 more lives in Bangladesh, 12,383 more test positive
“At present, the government has 45 lakh doses of vaccines in stock. We’ll receive 29 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine very soon. Besides, Pfizer vaccine doses will reach the country within the next month,” he added.
“Our health sector has the capacity to store 3 crore doses of vaccine. So, there’ll be no problem in storing and distributing vaccines,” the minister said.
All adults to be gradually vaccinated: Health Minister
Expanding the vaccine eligibility target, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said everyone above 18 years will gradually be vaccinated in Bangladesh.
“Arrangements are being made to gradually bring all citizens above 18 years under the Covid-19 vaccination programme in order to revive the country's education system,” he said.
Zahid Maleque came up with the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a progamme on Covid-19 ICU Bed Expansion and inauguration of Outpatient Department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH).
Also read: 35-years-olds to be made eligible for Covid jabs: DGHS DG
“At present, the government has 45 lakh doses of vaccines in stock. We’ll receive 29 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine very soon. Besides, Pfizer vaccine doses will reach the country within the next month,” he added.
19 more Covid patients die in RMCH
Nineteen more Covid patients have died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) in the last 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday .
Of the deceased, five were confirmed Covid patients, while14 others had symptoms of the virus, said hospital director Brigadier General Shamim Yazdani.
Read:RMCH Corona unit scrambles as it reports 19 more deaths
Six of the patients were from Rajshahi district, three from Chapainawabganj, two each from Natore and Naogaon and six from Pabna districts.
Some 267 people died of Covid-19 at the corona unit of RMCH from July 1 to July 14.
Besides, 56 more new patients have been admitted to the hospital with Covid symptoms in the past 24 hours. Currently, 507 patients are undergoing treatment at the 454-bed hospital.
Read: 14 more Covid patients die at RMCH in 24 hrs
RMCH has been one of the most stretched hospitals in the country during the second wave of Covid-19, particularly since the latter part of May when the deadly Delta variant of the virus was identified in multiple samples in Rajshahi division.
Khulna division logs 47 Covid deaths
As many as 47 people have died of Covid-19 in different districts of Khulna division in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday.
Besides, 1,639 Covid-19 people tested positive for Covid-19 during the period, said Rasheda Sultana, director of the divisional health department.
Read: Khulna div logs 36 Covid deaths in a day
On July 10, the division logged a record number of 71 Covid deaths. The total death toll in the division has now crossed 1,772, said the health officials.
Some 78,040 cases have been detected in 10 districts of the division since the onset of Covid, of which 49,961 patients have recovered so far.
Read: Khulna division records its highest deaths in a day due to Covid
In Khulna division, the first case of Covid-19 was detected in Chuadanga on March 19, 2020.
19 more Covid patients die at Khulna hospitals
Nineteen more people have died of Covid-19 at four different hospitals in Khulna in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday.
While 15 of the patients tested positive for Covid, the remaining showed symptoms of the virus, the officials said.
Read: Khulna div logs 36 Covid deaths in a day
Of them, 12 died at Khulna Corona Dedicated Hospital, one at the Covid unit of Khulna General Hospital, two at the private Gazi Medical College Hospital and four at Shahid Sheikh Abu Naser Hospital.
Khulna Corona Dedicated Hospital's nodal officer Dr Suhas Ranjan Haldar said that 12 people have died at the hospital in the past 24 hours.
Besides, 195 people are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. Of them, 134 are receiving treatment in the red zone, 21 in the yellow zone and 20 in the intensive care unit, said Dr Suhas.
Read: 12 more die of Covid at Khulna hospitals JULY 14, 2021 12 more die of Covid at Khulna hospitals
Some 33 people have been admitted to the hospital in the past 24 hours. During the period, 20 people were discharged from the hospital post-recovery, he said.
Dr Gazi Mizanur Rahman, owner of Gazi Medical College Hospital, said 113 people are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. Some 14 people have been admitted to the hospital in the past 24 hours and 13 discharged.
Read:Khulna division records its highest deaths in a day due to Covid
Kazi Abu Rashed, spokesman for the corona unit of Khulna General Hospital, said 12 people have been admitted to the medical facility in the past 24 hours and 11 patients discharged after recovery.
Dr Chandra Debnath Shekhar, spokesman for Shaheed Sheikh Abu Naser Specialised Hospital, said that 44 patients are currently being treated at the hospital and of them 10 are in the ICU.
US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year
Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday.
That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.
“This is a staggering loss of human life,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends.
The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.
Read:US COVID-19 cases rising again, doubling over three weeks
Lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions isolated those with drug addictions and made treatment harder to get, experts said.
Jordan McGlashen died of a drug overdose in his Ypsilanti, Michigan, apartment last year. He was pronounced dead on May 6, the day before his 39th birthday.
“It was really difficult for me to think about the way in which Jordan died. He was alone, and suffering emotionally and felt like he had to use again,” said his younger brother, Collin McGlashen, who wrote openly about his brother’s addiction in an obituary.
Jordan McGlashen’s death was attributed to heroin and fentanyl.
While prescription painkillers once drove the nation’s overdose epidemic, they were supplanted first by heroin and then by fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid, in recent years. Fentanyl was developed to treat intense pain from ailments like cancer but has increasingly been sold illicitly and mixed with other drugs.
“What’s really driving the surge in overdoses is this increasingly poisoned drug supply,” said Shannon Monnat, an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University who researches geographic patterns in overdoses. “Nearly all of this increase is fentanyl contamination in some way. Heroin is contaminated. Cocaine is contaminated. Methamphetamine is contaminated.”
Fentanyl was involved in more than 60% of the overdose deaths last year, CDC data suggests.
There’s no current evidence that more Americans started using drugs last year, Monnat said. Rather, the increased deaths most likely were people who had already been struggling with addiction. Some have told her research team that suspensions of evictions and extended unemployment benefits left them with more money than usual. And they said “when I have money, I stock up on my (drug) supply,” she said.
Read:Wildfires threaten homes, land across 10 Western states
Overdose deaths are just one facet of what was overall the deadliest year in U.S. history. With about 378,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19, the nation saw more than 3.3 million deaths.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed death certificates to come up with the estimate for 2020 drug overdose deaths. The estimate of over 93,000 translates to an average of more than 250 deaths each day, or roughly 11 every hour.
The 21,000 increase is the biggest year-to-year jump since the count rose by 11,000 in 2016.
More historical context: According to the CDC, there were fewer than 7,200 total U.S. overdose deaths reported in 1970, when a heroin epidemic was raging in U.S. cities. There were about 9,000 in 1988, around the height of the crack epidemic.
The CDC reported that in 2020 drug overdoses increased in all but two states, New Hampshire and South Dakota.
Kentucky’s overdose count rose 54% last year to more than 2,100, up from under 1,400 the year before. There were also large increases in South Carolina, West Virginia and California. Vermont had the largest jump, of about 58%, but smaller numbers — 118 to 186.
The proliferation of fentanyl is one reason some experts do not expect any substantial decline in drug overdose deaths this year. Though national figures are not yet available, there is data emerging from some states that seems to support their pessimism. Rhode Island, for example, reported 34 overdose deaths in January and 37 in February — the most for those months in at least five years.
Read:Mystery grows with key suspect in Haiti president killing
For Collin McGlashen, last year was “an incredibly dark time” that began in January with the cancer death of the family’s beloved patriarch.
Their father’s death sent his musician brother Jordan into a tailspin, McGlashen said.
“Someone can be doing really well for so long and then, in a flash, deteriorate,” he said.
Then came the pandemic. Jordan lost his job. “It was kind of a final descent.”
Covid claims 13 more lives in Barishal
As many as 13 more people have died at Sher-E-Bangla Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH) in Barisal in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Thursday morning.
Of the deceased, three were confirmed Covid patients while the remaining 10 showed symptoms of the virus.
Read:Barishal logs highest single-day Covid cases
Divisional Health Director Dr Basudev Kumar Das said that 368 patients have died of Covid-19 in the division so far. Besides, 500 people have tested positive for Covid in the division in the past 24 hours.
Of the 500 fresh Covid cases in the division, 192 have been identified in Barisal district alone. So far, 10,498 people have been infected with Covid-19 in the district.
On Tuesday, the division recorded the highest single-day Covid cases at 879.
Read: Barisal Division logs record 22 Covid deaths in a day
So far, some 24,596 Covid patients have been identified in the division and 16,600 of them have recovered.
According to SBMCH authorities, 54 more patients have been admitted to the hospital in the past 24 hours. Besides, 279 Covid patients are currently undergoing treatment at the corona unit of SBMCH.
14 more die of Covid in Kushtia
Amid an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases in the district, authorities at Kushtia General Hospital on Thursday recorded 14 more deaths in 24 hours.
Of the deceased, 10 were confirmed Covid patients while the remaining four showed symptoms of the virus, said Dr MA Momen, administrator of Kushtia General Hospital.
Read: 22 deaths in 24 hours: Kushtia records its highest daily Covid toll
Besides, 273 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the district in the past 24 hours. "Some 894 samples were tested during the period," he said.
The positivity rate currently stands at 30.53%.
Read: Kushtia reports 17 more Covid-related deaths
Moreover, a total of 285 patients with Covid symptoms are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
So far, 11,493 people have been infected with the virus in the district, while the death toll stands at 370. On the other hand, 7,156 people have recovered from Covid in the district to date.
Global Covid cases top 188 million
The global Covid-19 caseload has now surpassed 188 million, with the world still struggling to contain the second wave of the pandemic.
The total caseload and fatalities from the virus stand at 188,284,090 and 4,057,061, respectively, as of Thursday morning, as per the latest data released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
On the other hand, as many as 3,496,851,294 vaccine doses have been administered across the world.
The US has logged 33,946,217 cases and 608,104 fatalities to date, the highest death toll in the world, according to the university.
The US crossed the grim milestone of 30 million cases on March 25.
Read: FDA adds warning about rare reaction to J&J COVID-19 vaccine
Brazil registered 1,556 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national fatality figure to 537,394, the health ministry said Wednesday.
As many as 57,736 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,209,729, the ministry said.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
Read: Chattogram hospital to admit only Covid patients
India has been experiencing a fall in daily Covid-19 deaths for the past couple of weeks.
The country's Covid-19 tally surpassed 30,946,074 on Wednesday, with 38,792 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, said the federal health ministry.
Besides, as many as 624 deaths were reported on Wednesday that took the overall fatality toll to 411,408.
Situation in Bangladesh
Still in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Bangladesh lost 210 more lives to the deadly virus, while another 12,383 people contracted it in the past 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
Read: Tackling Covid spread is not Health Ministry’s job: Minister
The new numbers took the country’s death tally to 17,052 and the caseload to 10,59,538, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases were detected after testing 42,490 samples during the period, bringing down the case positivity rate slightly to 29.14% from Tuesday’s 29.21%.
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.61% during the 24-hour period.
The country saw a record number of 13,768 Covid cases on Monday and the highest-ever 230 deaths on Sunday.
So far, 897,412 people have recovered from the disease, taking the country’s recovery rate to 84.70%, which is on the decline compared to other indicators.
6 athletes to represent Bangladesh in Tokyo Olympics
An 18-member contingent from Bangladesh, including six athletes who will represent the country in various disciplines and 12 officials, will join the world's biggest sports carnival, the Olympic Games, to be held in Japanese capital Tokyo from July 23 to August 8 next.
The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the 32nd Olympiad and branded as Tokyo 2020, the world's biggest international multi sports festival, finally looks set to proceed, after being held over from last year due to the pandemic -the first time in the Games' history that they have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled.
The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for July 24 to August 9 in 2020, was postponed in March 2020 for the Covid-19 pandemic and later rescheduled for 2021. It will now be held largely behind closed doors with no spectators permitted under the state of emergency.
Also read: Genuinely excited to welcome Bangladesh Olympic team to Tokyo: Japanese envoy
Six Bangladeshi athletes will compete in four disciplines of sports --archery, swimming,athletics and Shooting --in their dream.