COVID-19
Guidelines issued for haats: Elderly, children not allowed among other directives
The elderlies and children will not be allowed to enter the cattle market ahead of Eid-ul Azha this year, according to guidelines provided by the government.
The Press Information Department (PID) issued an official notice on Wednesday regarding government guidelines to contain the spread of coronavirus in cattle markets.
According to these guidelines, market management should restrict or regulate the entrance of elderly people and children as they are more vulnerable to contagious disease.
Also read: Countrywide digital cattle market launched, gets good response
The markets should have separate entry and exit points alongside hand washing facilities, hand sanitisers and temperature measuring devices.
According to the notice, the markets cannot be set up on main roads or in places that create traffic congestion.
Also read: Cattle markets open in Dhaka amid low arrival, high prices
Mobile courts will take necessary legal actions against those not following the directives, warned the notice.
The notice urged to promote trading of sacrificial animals from the 241 digitals cattle markets (digital haats) set up across the nation.
Mushfiq’s parents test positive for Covid-19
Bangladesh stalwart Mushfiqur Rahim’s parents have been tested positive for Covid-19 and they are being brought to Dhaka for treatment.
Mushfiq is currently travelling to Bangladesh from Zimbabwe where he had gone last month to play a series against the hosts.
It is understood that after coming to know about his parents’ Covid-19 report, Mushfiq decided to back home immediately. He is now set to miss the three-match ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Also read: Covid claims 210 more lives in Bangladesh, 12,383 more test positive
He earlier had decided to not play the T20I series in this tour, instead, have some days with the family to avert bubble fatigue. However, he later changed his decision, had opted to play the whole series.
But now, for this family emergency, he is going to take a flight to Bangladesh later today (Zimbabwe time).
After winning the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh are now gearing up for the three-match ODI series against the hosts. The ODIs will take place on July 16, 18 and 20.
After that, both the teams will play a three-match T20 series as well which will be played on July 23, 25 and 27. All the matches will be played at the same venue— the Harare Sports Club.
Covid claims 210 more lives in Bangladesh, 12,383 more test positive
Still in the midst of Covid-19 crisis, Bangladesh lost 210 more lives to the deadly virus, while another 12,383 people contracted it in24 hours till Wednesday morning.The new numbers took the country’s death tally to 17,052 and the caseload to 10,59,538, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
READ: Govt. to purchase 15 million Sinopharm Covid vaccine at lower rate
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.
READ: US COVID-19 cases rising again, doubling over three weeks
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.
READ: Covid-19: Visa on arrival service in Bangladesh suspended
Govt to purchase 15 mn Sinopharm vaccine doses at lower rate
Bangladesh will purchase 15 million doses of Sinopharm Covid vaccine from China at a rate lower than that was set in an earlier deal, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase cleared a health ministry’s new proposal on the purchase at a virtual meeting chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
Read: Mass inoculation to restart Monday with Sinopharm; Tuesday
Bangladesh earlier received two million doses of vaccine as a gift from China, according to the proposal presented at the meeting.
“Now the Central Medicine Store of the Health Department will procure the remaining 13 million vaccines plus newly proposed two million at a lower rate than the previously set price under the Sinopharm Vaccine Supplemental Agreement-1,” said the proposal.
On May 27 this year, the same committee approved the purchase of the same Chinese jabs at $10 per dose. China was then upset by the disclosure of the price saying it was a breach of a non-disclosure clause agreed by the two governments.
Read: Covid vaccine supply: Gavi signs deals with Sinopharm, Sinovac
Bangladesh acted promptly to remove the misunderstanding.
“But this time the rate is not being disclosed in the interest of the state. It’s sure the new doses will have a lower price,” said the finance minister while briefing reporters on the issue.
Asked when the vaccine doses will arrive, he advised the media to contact the health ministry for any further information.
Read: 1.84 lakh doses of Moderna, Sinopharm vaccines reach Chattogram
He, however, said the new proposal was approved with a provision to allow the health ministry to procure Sinopharm’s vaccine as many as it requires to meet the emergency.
12 more die of Covid at Khulna hospitals
Twelve more people have died of Covid-19 at three hospitals in Khulna in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday.
Nine of them were confirmed Covid-19 patients, while the remaining exhibited symptoms of the virus, the officials said.
Read: Covid claims 46 more lives in Khulna division, say officials
Of them, five died at Khulna Corona Dedicated Hospital, three at Gazi Medical College Hospital and four at the Covid unit of Khulna General Hospital.
Khulna Corona Dedicated Hospital nodal officer Dr Suhas Ranjan Haldar said that five people have died at the hospital in the past 24 hours. Of them, two were confirmed Covid-19 patients.
Read:19 more Covid patients die at Khulna hospitals
Besides, 201 people are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. Of them, 135 are receiving treatment in the red zone, 26 in the yellow zone and 20 in the intensive care unit, said Dr Suhas.
Some 38 people were admitted to the hospital during this 24-hour period, while 21 were discharged from the hospital, he said.
Read:Khulna division records its highest deaths in a day due to Covid
Dr Gazi Mizanur Rahman, owner of the private Gazi Medical College Hospital, said three people have died at the hospital's corona unit in the past 24 hours.
Khulna General Hospital's corona unit spokesman Kazi Abu Rashed said that four Covid patients have died at the hospital since Tuesday morning.
Barishal division logs 19 new Covid deaths
Barishal division has logged as many as 19 new Covid deaths in the past 24 hours, health officials said on Wednesday morning.
Of them, 13 died at Sher-E-Bangla Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH), two in Patuakhali and four in Barguna.
Read:Barishal logs highest single-day Covid cases
Besides, 533 people have tested positive for Covid in the division in the past 24 hours, the officials said.
Of the 533 fresh Covid cases in the division, 202 have been identified in Barisal district alone. So far, 10,306 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 24,096 active patients have been identified in the division and 16,391 of them have recovered.
Divisional Health Director Dr Basudev Kumar Das said that 365 patients have died of Covid-19 in the division so far.
Read:Covid nightmare in Barisal division: Record caseload of 710 reported
According to SBMCH authorities, 37 more patients were admitted to the hospital in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
Besides, 259 Covid patients are currently undergoing treatment at the corona unit of SBMCH.
Malaysia shuts vaccination center after 204 staff infected
Malaysia shut down a mass vaccination center in its worst-hit state Tuesday after more than 200 medical staff and volunteers tested positive for the coronavirus.
The closure was the first of a vaccination center and came as the country’s new confirmed infections breached five figures Tuesday, hitting a record 11,079.
Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin stressed that swift government action had contained the cluster at the Ideal Convention Center in central Selangor state.
Khairy, who is in charge of the national immunization program, said he ordered the testing of all 453 workers at the center after two volunteers were confirmed to have the virus. Khairy said the 204 whose results were positive had low viral loads, meaning the amount of virus in their bodies was small.
Read:Immunized but banned: EU says not all COVID vaccines equal
This could be because 88% or 400 of the workers have already been vaccinated, he said.
The center was shut for deep sanitization and all its workers are being isolated. Khairy said it will reopen Wednesday with a new team of medical workers.
He urged people who were vaccinated at the center since Friday to isolate themselves for 10 days and be tested if they develop symptoms. He declined to say how many people had visited the center since Friday. It has the capacity to deliver up to 6,000 shots a day.
“This is the first time we had to shut down a (vaccination center) because of positive cases but we acted fast. By shutting it down today and by taking corrective measures ... we hope the disruption is only one day and that this will not hamper the vaccination process,” Khairy said.
Read: FDA adds warning about rare reaction to J&J COVID-19 vaccine
He said it would be safe to visit the center starting Wednesday for vaccinations.
Khairy said health measures at all other vaccination centers will be tightened, but didn’t order other workers to be tested.
Selangor, the country’s richest state bordering Kuala Lumpur, is the worst hit by the pandemic. It accounted for nearly half of Tuesday’s new cases, partly because of increased virus screening amid a tight lockdown.
The government has struggled to contain the pandemic, which has worsened despite a lockdown since June 1. Total confirmed cases have soared by 50% since June 1 to 855,949, while deaths have more than doubled to over 6,200.
Read: South Africa ramps up vaccine drive, too late for this surge
Hospitals especially in Selangor have been overwhelmed, with some patients reportedly being treated on the floor due to a lack of beds, and corpses piling up in mortuaries.
Vaccinations have picked up, with 11% of the population now fully inoculated. At least a quarter of the country’s 32 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine.
The daily vaccination rate surpassed 420,000 doses on Monday, the national Bernama news agency quoted Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as saying,
He expressed confidence that the fast pace of vaccination would help stem the outbreak.
Global Covid cases approach 188 million
Believe it or not, the global Covid-19 caseload is fast nearing the grim milestone of 188 million.
The total caseload and fatalities stand at 187,739,616 and 4,047,966, respectively, as of Wednesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
So far, 3,494,474,264 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe.
The Covid-19 curve in the US is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases daily doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading Delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings, reports AP.
Read:US COVID-19 cases rising again, doubling over three weeks
Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins data. And all but two states — Maine and South Dakota — reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks.
The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,914,039 cases. Besides, 607,763 people have lost their lives in the US to date.
Brazil registered 1,605 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 535,838, the health ministry said Tuesday.
As many as 45,022 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to 19,151,993, 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.
The third worst-hit country, India's Covid-19 tally rose to 30,907,282 on Tuesday as 32,906 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry's latest health data.
Besides, 2,020 deaths due to the pandemic since Monday morning took the fatality toll to 410,784, a steep rise from Monday's figure of 724.
Situation in Bangladesh
Struggling with the second wave of the pandemic, Bangladesh on Tuesday morning recorded 12,198 new Covid cases and 203 deaths in 24 hours.
The new numbers took the country’s death tally to 16,842 and the caseload to 10,47,155, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:Covid claims 203 more lives in Bangladesh, another 12,198 infected
The fresh cases were detected after testing 41,755 samples during the period, pushing up the case positivity rate to 29.21%.
The country saw a record number of 13,768 Covid cases on Monday and the highest-ever 230 deaths on Sunday.
So far, 889,167 people have recovered from the disease, taking the country’s recovery rate to 84.91%, which is on the decline compared to other indicators.
Of the latest deaths, 61 were reported in Dhaka, 53 in Khulna, 30 in Chattogram and 27 in Rajshahi. Besides, 15 people died in Rangpur, seven in Mymensingh and five each in Barishal and Sylhet divisions.
The country saw 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June, making those the most fatal months of this year. Also, July was the most fatal month in 2020, reporting 1,264 deaths followed by 1,197 deaths in June that year.
Lockdown eased
The government has decided to ease all lockdown restrictions in the country for eight days ahead of Eid ul Azha.
In a notification on Tuesday morning, the cabinet division said that the lockdown restrictions will be lifted from July 14 midnight to the morning of July 23.
However, strict restrictions will resume from July 23 and will continue till August 5, as per the order.
Read: Wellbeing during COVID-19: How yoga can help you during quarantine
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Bangladesh Railway is going to restore its passenger train services for eight days from July 15-22 across the country, keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Public transport services and business institutions will also be allowed to function.
Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on July 21 amid the Delta variant of Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the country, shattering records every day.
A record rise in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide stringent lockdown suspending all outdoor activities unless there is an emergency.
Covid claims 12 more lives at Kushtia hospital
Kushtia General Hospital on Wednesday morning reported 12 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours amid an alarming surge in the number of new infections in the district.
Of the deceased, 10 were confirmed Covid patients while the remaining two showed symptoms of the virus, said Dr MA Momen, administrator of Kushtia General Hospital.
Read:Covid: 9 more die at Kushtia hospital
Besides, 325 people have been tested positive for coronavirus in the district in the past 24 hours. "Some 903 samples were tested during the period," he said.
The positivity rate currently stands at 35.99%, which was 29.39% a day before.
Read: 22 deaths in 24 hours: Kushtia records its highest daily Covid toll
Moreover, a total of 279 patients with Covid symptoms are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
So far, 11,198 people have been infected with the virus in the district, while the death toll stands at 359. On the other hand, 7,002 people have recovered from Covid in the district to date.
Biman to operate domestic flights from July 15 to July 22
National flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate flights in all internal routes from July 15 to 22.
The national airlines service announced the decision through a media release Tuesday, followed by the cabinet division’s notification on lifting lockdown restrictions from July 14 midnight to the morning of July 23.
During the period, Biman’s three flights to Chattogram and Syedpur, two each to Cox’s Bazar, Jashore, Sylhet and one each to Rajshahi and Barishal will fly from Dhaka.
Also read: Bangladesh eases lockdown restrictions ahead of Eid
The passengers can buy tickets for the flights from any travel agency approved by Biman sales office or Biman’s website, mobile apps making payments through bkash, Rocket, Vissa, Mastercard or AMEX card.
However, strict restrictions will resume from July 23 and will continue until Aug. 5, as per the order.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Bangladesh Railway is going to restore its passenger train services for eight days from July 15-22 across the country, keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Also read: Stringent lockdown: Biman's domestic flights suspended till July 7
Public transport services and business institutions will also be allowed to function.
Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on July 21 amid the Delta variant of Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the country, shattering records every day.
A record rise in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide stringent lockdown suspending all outdoor activities unless there's an emergency.