lockdown
Bus services resume in Bangladesh cities
Bus services resumed in cities across Bangladesh, including capital Dhaka, on Thursday, albeit with a limited number of passengers.
However, inter-district bus services will remain suspended in the country during the lockdown period. The lockdown-related movement restrictions have been imposed by the government to break the chain of Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh.
Also Read: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
A reality check by UNB in Dhaka revealed that several buses left their depots in the morning and were plying on several key stretches of the capital -- Mirpur Road, Begum Rokeya Sarani, Uttara, Banani and Mohakhali, to name a few.
Like buses, other public transport vehicles like microbuses were also seen plying on the capital's roads and carrying passengers, but with 50 percent of their seating capacity.
People were seen using public transport, strictly adhering to all Covid-safety protocols.
Police said they were keeping a strict vigil on all public transport vehicles and taking action against passengers found without masks or flouting social distancing norms.
Traffic inspector Asaduzzaman said, "Bus services have resumed in the city since morning and we are checking each and every bus to ensure that all passengers maintain all Covid-safety protocols."
UNB's Cumilla correspondent reports: Buses left almost all the terminals in the district, including Shashangacha, Jangalia and Chakbazar, early in the morning. And no passengers were allowed to board the bus without masks.
Public transport services were suspended in Bangladesh on April 5, with the government announcing a countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.
However, the government partially resumed the operations of city bus services on April 7 only to suspend the same with the imposition of the countrywide complete lockdown from April 14.
The transport owners' associations have already urged the government to resume bus services in the country and demanded food assistance for all unemployed transport workers across Bangladesh.
Also Read:Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Bus fare increases
The government has increased the bus fares by 60 percent across the country, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on March 30.
On May 31, 2020, the government raised the fares of inter-district (Dhaka, Chittagong and adjoining areas) buses and minibuses by 60 percent in order to compensate vehicle owners carrying 50 percent less passengers to prevent the transmission of coronavirus.
Lockdown extended
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown till 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, 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 Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm, maintaining health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain suspended, while only intra-district transport services will operate adhering to health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain suspended.
As coronavirus cases have been growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
Also Read:Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays
Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21. On April 28, the government again extended the lockdown till May 5, with the country struggling to contain the Covid-19 transmission.
On April 23, the Cabinet Division issued a notification allowing shops and shopping malls to operate from April 25 (10am-5pm) on the condition that they would maintain proper safety protocols.
Global Covid cases top 154.7 million
The pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world. And with new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several nations, the global corona cases have now topped 154.7 million.
In fact, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities surged to 154,788,122 and 3,237,808, respectively, on Thursday.
The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, has so far logged 32,557,299 infections and 579,265 fatalities, respectively, as per the JHU data.
The Centers for Disease Control is now reporting an average of about 350,000 new cases each week, 35,000 hospitalisations and over 4,000 deaths, reports AP.
With Covid-19 deaths, hospitalisations and cases plummeting since January, many states and cities are already moving to ease or lift restrictions on restaurants, bars, theaters and other businesses and talking about getting back to something close to normal this summer.
Also Read:Global Covid cases near 154 million
Brazil registered 2,811 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 414,399, the Ministry of Health reported Wednesday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 73,295 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 14,930,183.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.
Meanwhile, India has recorded 20,665,148 cases as of Thursday morning, with 226,188 fatalities.
India’s hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and the shortage of oxygen is only intensifying the woes of patients and their relatives.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Wednesday recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death data, the mortality from coronavirus has risen to 11,755, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
Also Read:Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new infections during the period, pushing up the caseload to 7,67,338.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.
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.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has said that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by early May.
In the past 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, according to the DGHS handout.
Also Read:Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people have received the vaccine, of which 31,06709 got their second dose.
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, 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 Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Also Read:Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays
Inter-district transport services will remain suspended, while only intra-district transport services will operate adhering to health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain suspended.
Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays
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.
The notification says hundred percent use of masks should be ensured and legal steps can be taken through mobile courts, if needed.
All social, political and religious programmes that create public gatherings will not be allowed to be arranged during this period.
Also Read: Extended lockdown extends daily bottlenecks for commuters
The Ministry of Information, city corporations/municipalities concerned will make publicity using loudhailers on using masks, maintaining health guidelines and social distance in district headquarters and municipality areas to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Earlier, on May 3, the government decided to extend the ongoing lockdown up to May 16.
The decision was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
As coronavirus cases keep growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
Also Read: Police seize four buses for violating lockdown norms in Jashore
Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21. On April 28, the government again extended the lockdown until May 5 as the country is struggling to contain the Covid-19 transmission.
On April 23, the Cabinet Division issued a notice allowing shops and shopping malls to operate from April 25 (10am-5pm) on the condition that they would maintain proper safety protocols.
Indian government faces lockdown calls, contempt charges
India’s government faced calls for a strict lockdown to slow a devastating surge in new coronaviorus cases, and a court in New Delhi on Wednesday will decide whether to punish officials for failing to end a 2-week-old erratic supply of oxygen to overstretched hospitals.
With 382,315 new confirmed cases, India’s tally has risen to more than 20.6 million since the pandemic began. The Health Ministry on Wednesday also reported 3,780 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 226,188. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
Also Read:India’s virus surge damages Modi’s image of competence
Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the opposition Congress party, said this week “a lockdown is now the only option because of a complete lack of strategy by the Indian government.”
The New Delhi High Court will decide whether to press contempt charges against officials for defying its order to meet oxygen requirements of more than 40 hospitals in the capital. Those found guilty face six months in prison or a fine.
The court summoned two Home Ministry officials for Wednesday’s hearing.
“You can put your head in the sand like an ostrich, we will not. We are not going to take no for an answer,” Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said.
The grim reality is that hospitals are reducing the number of beds and asking patients to move elsewhere, the judges said. The court is hearing petitions filed by several hospitals and nursing homes struggling with irregular oxygen supplies.
Raghav Chaddha, a spokesman for the Aam Aadmi Party governing New Delhi, said hospitals were getting only 40% of their 700 metric tons (772 U.S. tons) requirements through the federal government, and the local government was arranging additional supplies to meet the shortfall and setting up new oxygen plants.
Also Read: India reports over 380,000 new cases, tally at 20,665,148
The latest wave of infections since April has pushed India’s health care to the brink with people begging for oxygen cylinders and hospital beds on social media and news channels.
Bodies have been piling up at cremation grounds and in graveyards with relatives waiting for hours for the last rites.
Dileep Kumar, a student, said he was asked by hospital authorities to shift his father to another hospital in Ghaziabad, a town on the outskirts of New Delhi, after it ran out of oxygen on Tuesday.
Authorities are scrambling to add more beds, sending oxygen from one corner of the country to another, and scaling up manufacturing of the few drugs effective against COVID-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is reluctant to impose a national lockdown for fear of the economic fallout. Modi said last month that it should be the last resort.
But nearly a dozen states have imposed curbs on their own.
The most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, with 200 million people, implemented a five-day lockdown this week. The country’s second and third most populated states of Maharashtra and Bihar are also under lockdown with varying curbs.
Also Read:‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s virus catastrophe worsens
Efforts to scale up the vaccination drive are hampered by the shortage of doses. India, a country of 1.4 billion, has so far administered 160 million doses.
The global community is extending a helping hand. The United States, Britain, Germany and several other nations are rushing therapeutics, rapid virus tests and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for India to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines.
India reports over 380,000 new cases, tally at 20,665,148
India's COVID-19 tally reached 20,665,148 on Wednesday with as many as 382,315 new cases registered during the past 24 hours, confirmed the federal health ministry.
Besides, 3,780 deaths were also reported, taking the death toll to 226,188.
Also Read: India's COVID-19 tally crosses 20 million
There are still a total of 3,487,229 active cases in the country, with an increase of 40,096 active cases through Tuesday, as 16,951,731 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country.
The COVID-19 figures continue to peak in the country every day. The federal government has ruled out imposing a complete lockdown to contain the worsening situation though some states have imposed night curfews or partial lockdowns.
Delhi has been put under a third successive lockdown till May 10.
While some school examinations are cancelled, others have been postponed in the wake of COVID-19 situation.
The number of daily active cases has been on the rise over the past few weeks. In January the number of daily cases in the country had come down to below 10,000. As many as 9,102 new cases were reported between January 25-26, which was the lowest in the previous 237 days. Prior to that the lowest number of daily new cases were 9,304 registered on June 4, 2020.
January 16 was a crucial day in India's fight against the pandemic as the nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off during the day. So far over 160 million vaccination doses (160,494,188) have been administered to the people across the country.
Also Read: ‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s virus catastrophe worsens
Online registration began last Wednesday for vaccinating people aged above 18. This is the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination, which began on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, even as over 294 million tests have been conducted so far.
As many as 294,852,078 tests were conducted till Tuesday, out of which 1,541,299 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.
The national capital Delhi, which has been one of the most COVID-19- affected places in the country, witnessed 19,953 new cases and 338 deaths through Tuesday.
So far as many as 17,752 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department.
Also Read: Impact of devastating Indian virus surge spreads to politics
Two types of vaccines are being administered in India. While the "Covishield" vaccine, made by the "Serum Institute of India (SII)", was supplied to all states, the "Covaxin" vaccine, made by the "Bharat Biotech International Limited", was supplied to only 12 states.
Meanwhile, India received its first doses of Sputnik-V, the Russian-made vaccine, on Saturday.
Amid lockdown, uncertainty looms over American higher education aspirants
As coronavirus cases continue to rise alarmingly from mid-March, the government imposed an apparently loose nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread. Later a stricter lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21 and then April 22 to 28, and as a result, thousands of students who earned their admission and scholarship at different universities abroad, especially in the United States, are counting days in anxiety.
From April 5, the US embassy in Dhaka cancelled previously scheduled visa interviews and also stopped providing any new visa appointments for the near future, saying this would be the scenario until the lockdown and travel restrictions get lifted - and many students fear that they will lose funding opportunities and will ultimately have to cancel their admission to desired universities.
Read Modernise higher education system: President
As the lockdown got extended due to the ongoing massive spike in the daily infection and mortality rate related to COVID-19, and also considering the devastating scenario in India, the uncertainty rather increased among the visa aspirant students.
One of the top countries in the world for the quality education system, the United States contains most of the prolific and top-ranked universities which offer full scholarships, fellowships and fundings to the most meritorious students around the world. So, the visa aspirants have already proven themselves as scholars with higher degrees from top universities of the country and aspiring advanced research-based knowledge on the evolution of technology, health sectors, economics and other fields, only to face the same extreme frustration and anxiety regarding the visa dilemma - once again this year, after suffering in 2020.
Read UGC chairman for ensuring good governance at universities
Statistics says that every year, more than 3,000 students from Bangladesh go to the United States of America which is considered as the hotspot of advanced education and cutting edge research, to study in different universities with honorary scholarships and fellowships. They compete against the graduates from the best and most advanced universities around the world and are playing a significant role in the advancement of science, arts and engineering.
Through the dedication and efforts of these talented students, the reputation of Bangladesh is spreading beyond the borders, and past honoraries with these higher study opportunities are already playing significant roles by utilizing their immense potentials for the further development and progress of Bangladesh.
Also read: New scholarship for Bangladeshi teachers announced by US embassy
In American universities, students are usually admitted into three sessions each year - Spring (January), Summer (May) and Fall (July-August). While most students usually prefer the Fall semester, most of the Fall 2020 students were not able to join their scheduled sessions due to the non-availability of visa because of the pandemic.
The problem is, if a student fails to attend the university before the start of class, then the admission including scholarship offers will be cancelled - according to the university admission policy in America. Considering the situation, some lucky students were able to defer their admission to the Spring session and attend their universities in January 2021 and some were also able to hold their admission and scholarships for the Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 sessions, based on individual university policies.
Read Women continue making amazing contributions in STEM fields: US
As a result, the visa demand for the Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 session was already more than regular, but unfortunately, the US embassy in Bangladesh has cancelled all the scheduled visa interviews starting from April 5, 2021, after the decision of lockdown was announced. Although the embassy has scheduled an emergency interview date on May 11, that is only for the immediate Summer aspirants while the visa schedule is urgent for the Fall aspirants as well.
Though emergency services, industries, banks, markets and inter-city public transport were allowed to continue operating upon following the government rules and law-enforcement regulations, the US embassy is not accepting any new applications and said that the resuming of the process depends on when the government instructs them based on the improvement of the current pandemic scenario - but when the neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and even China have given high priority to student visa, the US embassy in Bangladesh is yet to undertake any such specialized process.
Also read: Chevron continues scholarship support for local students
As there is no option of delaying the admission offers for the same person and the same reason in two consecutive years, all of the US higher education aspiring students are now on the verge of losing their hard-earned admission and prestigious scholarships, fellowships and assistantship offers. Many US universities are already acting reluctant to offer scholarships to Bangladeshi students.
Additionally, there is a possibility that students from other Asian and South Asian countries can override the achievement of Bangladeshi students in advanced studies and research sectors by grabbing the opportunity of their absence. If the situation continues, the reputation of Bangladesh in the advanced education and research sector will also be damaged alongside the personal loss of these students.
Read Covid-19: No ‘O’ level, ‘A’ level exams in 2020-21 session
Case Studies:
Jyotirmoy Saha, a student VISA aspirant who graduated from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) said, “I had my funding in Fall 2020. Due to this coronavirus pandemic, the university deferred me twice, first in Spring 2021, then Fall 2021. My fund is in PhD, and I can’t be enrolled in such a program with self-funding. My professor considered my situation, he was kind enough to me but for how long? If not in Fall 2021, I am going to lose it. This is a devastating situation for me right now.”
Another deferred candidate Roushney Fatima Mukti, shared: “I got accepted for a PhD program in the Medical University of South Carolina, with a Doctoral Fellowship and Dean’s Scholarship, for the Fall 2020 session. I was supposed to work on Cancer Biology with a large group of international researchers but I was the only one who couldn’t join the lab due to visa complications.”
Read 4 engineering universities sign MoUs with Walton to foster talent
These stories depict the situation of thousands of students, and the same stories of anxiety and frustration will continue if proper steps are not being taken.
Assuming a student applies for five to six universities on average for every session, the whole admission procedure to a US university costs more than BDT 300,000 including application fee and score submission fee, standardized exam fees like GRE, TOEFL, and IELTS (costing BDT 17,000 each which remain valid only for a limited time). Apart from the aeroplane ticket, the SEVIS fee and VISA scheduling fee together cost around BDT 45,000.
Md Mohsin, a Dhaka University graduate shared his struggling story: “My family was never in a position to manage the expenses of the entire US admission process. So, every month I saved some amount from what I earned from private tutoring. In Fall-2020, after completing all the procedures, I managed full funding in a PhD program from a US university and also secured a visa interview slot.”
Read 5,000 educational institutions to get 85,000 laptops
“However, it got cancelled several times during May-June last year. My fund was given to another international student. I had to defer my admission to Fall-2021 with no guarantee for funding. With enormous frustrations, I decided to not apply anymore - but then, luckily, in Fall-2021, I got full funding from the same department. This year, the same scenario is snatching away my opportunity once again. Being already denied once and losing the job due to COVID-19, life has already become a bottomless pit.”
Similarly, the students who got admission to MIT, Stanford University and Harvard University, considered three of the elite educational institutions in the world, are now suffering this undeserving despair. As per the situation, several US universities have requested the US Department of State to consider taking online interviews due to the ongoing global pandemic.
Read Huawei brings financial aid, free service for Asia-Pacific SMEs
The general students expressed, “We understand the lockdown is important to stop the spread of the COVID-19. However, if the Bangladesh government doesn’t keep the US embassy student visa appointments out of the lockdown protocol - the present and future of thousands of brilliant students will end in smoke.”
Even before the lockdown, only very limited interview slots were available, and now it is totally closed. “Only the Bangladesh Government can save us from this situation. We seek the attention of the Honorable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and the US Embassy in this matter.”
Read Huawei brings financial aid, free service for Asia-Pacific SMEs
With desperate measures, a delegation of the higher education aspiring students contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs personnel to push the US Embassy for swift actions and although they were assured that the issue would be looked at, any meaningful actions are yet to be seen.
In these bizarre and unfortunate circumstances, only the concerned government departments and the US embassy need to take swift, well-thought, and collaborative steps that can save the dreams of all these talented young scholars, who are the future of the nation.
Read Bangladesh children: The silent victims of the virus
Extended lockdown extends daily bottlenecks for commuters
Bangladesh has entered the third week of lockdown in its effort to put a leash on the surge of Covid-19's second wave.
The deadliest month of pandemic, April, has just passed recording 21% of the total deaths since the outbreak last year.
The onslaught hasn’t stopped yet, as 61 more deaths were logged today.
With the lockdown imposed and extended, all the public transport services remained restricted across the city.
Distressed by the decision, Dhaka dwellers were seen resorting to sharing autorickshaw fares with other passengers, even more than usual, to reach their destination.
However this situation brought the drivers an opportunity to demand extra fares from the passengers.
A UNB photographer has captured these photos of troubled passengers defying health rules, from city’s Notun Bazar, Nodda area today.
Global Covid cases top 153 million
The global Covid-19 caseload surpassed 153 million on Tuesday morning, with the world literally struggling to contain the second outbreak of the virus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities now stand at 153,185,370 and 3,209,657, respectively.
The US is the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths. The country is expected to authorise Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for youngsters aged 12 to 15 by next week.
Read Also: ‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s virus catastrophe worsens
The US has logged 32,470,823 cases, with 577,500 fatalities, as of Tuesday morning, according to the university data.
India’s total Covid tally is fast approaching the 20-million mark, second after the US.
The total case count in the South Asian country has reached 19,925,604, while the death toll from the virus mounted to 218,959, according to the health ministry.
Brazil's Covid-19 death toll reached 408,622 after 983 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 24,619 new infections during the same period, taking its nationwide tally to 14,779,529.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Monday reported 65 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours, raising the death toll to 11,644.
The health authorities recorded 1,739 new infections after examining 13,431 samples, according to data available at corona.gov.bd.
A handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) put the number of tests at 19,431, including antigen tests.
Read Also: Covid-19: Bangladesh records more 65 deaths, 1,739 new cases
Bangladesh has been recording less than 70 virus-related deaths since Friday. The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but since then the daily fatalities have been falling gradually.
With the latest figure, 7,63,682 cases have been recorded in the country so far, the Directorate General of Health Services said. This puts Bangladesh at 33rd in the list of countries with highest cases, according to Johns Hopkins tally.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
Lockdown continues till May 16
The ongoing lockdown, imposed on April 5, has been extended till May 16.
People, however, are hardly following health safety rules. They are still crowding shopping malls and markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival of the Muslims.
Photos and videos shot by UNB lensmen show overcrowded shopping places and total indifference towards health guidelines.
There will hardly be any positive outcome if people don’t follow health rules to protect themselves and others around them from coronavirus, according to experts.
Meanwhile, intra-district public transport services will be allowed to resume from May 6.
Read Also: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by the first week of May.
In the past 24 hours, 53 people have received the first dose and 1, 30,547 have received the second dose of the Covid vaccine, said the DGHS handout.
However, the registration process for receiving the vaccine jab remains shut.
Read Also: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina
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.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and Health Care Pharma have the capacity to produce Covid vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Mahbubur Rahman said.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, said the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russia and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
Impact of devastating Indian virus surge spreads to politics
As a catastrophic surge of the coronavirus sweeps through India, the leaders of 13 opposition parties urged the government to launch a free vaccination drive and ensure an uninterrupted flow of oxygen to all hospitals.
Several hospital authorities sought court intervention over the weekend to provide oxygen supplies in New Delhi, where a lockdown has been extended by a week in an attempt to contain the wave of infections.
Also read: Bucking anti-incumbency, Mamata scores a hat-trick in Bengal
The New Delhi High Court said it would start punishing government officials if supplies of oxygen allocated to hospitals are not delivered.
“Water has gone above the head. Enough is enough,” it said.
India reported 368,147 new coronavirus cases and 3,417 deaths on Monday — numbers that experts believe are vast undercounts because of a widespread lack of testing and incomplete reporting.
The health ministry says it has confirmed 19.9 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, behind only the U.S., which has counted more than 32.4 million. It says more than 218,000 people have died.
On Monday, 24 COVID-19 patients died at a government-run hospital in the southern state of Karnataka amid reports of an oxygen shortage. It was unclear how many died due to a lack of oxygen, but the chief minister ordered an investigation.
Also read: BJP Office set on fire in India’s West Bengal, party blames Trinamool
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been severely criticized over its handling of the surge, which has pushed India’s already fragile and underfunded health system to the brink. Massive election rallies organized by his Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties as well as a giant Hindu festival on the banks of the Ganges may have exacerbated the spread, experts said, adding that new variants could also be increasing cases.
Modi’s party on Sunday suffered a resounding election defeat in a key state, West Bengal, failing to dislodge its firebrand chief minister, Mamata Banerjee. It retained power in northeastern Assam state but lost in two southern states.
While the four states were already stiff election challenges for Modi’s party apart from the pandemic, analysts said the results weaken Modi’s position as surging infections cripple the already fragile health system.
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League, said Monday’s match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders would be rescheduled after two players tested positive for the coronavirus. The two players have self-isolated and medical personnel were tracing their contacts.
Also read: 7th phase of local elections underway in India's West Bengal amid COVID-19 spike
Despite rising cases, the league has held matches every evening behind closed doors since it kicked off in April.
India opened its vaccination campaign to people ages 18-44 on Saturday, a mammoth task undermined by limited supplies. India is the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, but even the ongoing effort to inoculate people above 45 is stuttering. Since January, 10% of Indians have received one dose but only around 1.5% have received both required doses.
Currently, only those over 45 can receive free vaccines at government inoculation centers. Private hospitals charge for the shots,
Bail, Ad-interim orders extended for 4 weeks: HC
Bail and all High Court ad-interim orders have been extended for the next four weeks, considering the lockdown and ongoing Covid situation.
Registrar general of the Supreme Court Md Ali Akbar issued a notice in this regard on Sunday.
The notice says the four week-extension will be effective on cases the High Court granted bail to the accused for a specific period or granted bail on condition of surrendering to a lower court or declared ad-interim order for a period.
On April 5 and April 18, through two different notices the Supreme Court has extended all ad-interim bails and orders for two weeks, twice.
On April 11, the Supreme Court declared on a notice that, from April 12 all the court and tribunals will be conducted virtually to settle all the bail and emergency criminal applications.