Bangladesh remains a compelling growth story, despite the global pandemic, said Standard Chartered’s leading economists. The bank’s global research team was speaking at a media session held following the 2021 Bangladesh session of the Bank’s Global Research Briefing series. Planning Minister MA Mannan attended the event held recently as the chief guest while around 300 of the Bank’s clients joined via video conferencing, said a media release on Thursday. Eric Robertsen, Global Head of Research and Chief Strategist, Standard Chartered, said while the pace and distribution of global recovery remains highly uneven, Bangladesh has made a strong comeback with one of the highest GDP growths in the world in 2020. Read: Economists urge government to present pro-poor budget “A robust vaccination program and implementation of strategic infrastructure projects are expected to further increase momentum towards the nation’s LDC graduation”. Saurav Anand, Economist, South Asia, Standard Chartered said Bangladesh’s economy is set to accelerate after a speed bump, with GDP growth forecast at 5.5% in FY21 and 7.2% in FY22. “The momentum will be driven by an export demand recovery, strong remittance inflows and public investment. Policy support is a prerequisite for a smooth transition to middle-income status, with per capita GDP set to reach USD 3,000 by FY26.” Naser Ezaz Bijoy, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bangladesh said the government of Bangladesh has navigated the internal and external challenges of the pandemic remarkably well. “The resilience of Bangladesh economy gives us cause for optimism. As the vaccination drive continues, the economy is set to accelerate, while lower debt levels compared to its peers provide medium term fiscal runway for growth,” Bijoy said. Read: Economists emphasise agro-based infrastructure He said there are significant opportunities for productivity gains through technology adoption, technology inclusiveness through mobile-based solutions and the ITES sector, while growth-supportive policies focus sectors will continue to spur private investment and FDI. Minister Mannan said the people of Bangladesh, the government and the business community have once again demonstrated tremendous resilience to ensure that while the shared development journey might have slowed, it has not been halted. “We remain as committed as ever in fostering a business-friendly climate, so that we can continue on our journey of inclusive progress and prosperity,” he said.

Global Covid-19 cases are on the rise, with 3.8 million new infections confirmed in the week between July 19 and July 25, and a "sharp" rise has been reported in the number of fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). For the past week, the global cases rose by 8% compared to the previous week, which was largely attributed to substantial increases in the Americas and the Western Pacific Regions, the UN health agency said in its weekly update report. With over 69,000, the number of Covid-19 deaths reported during the period increased by 21% week-on-week. Read: Countries have responsibility to help scientists find Covid origin: WHO Most of the new deaths were reported from the Americas and South-East Asia Regions, said the report. While previous months saw decreasing Covid-19 cases worldwide, the trend has changed this month and last week saw a 12% increase in the number of cases, while deaths and spread of variants are also on the rise, the WHO said on July 21. The UN health agency also reported that if the virus continues to spread at this rate, the global number of Covid-19 cases could reach 200 million soon. Read: Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief Variants are continuing their progression, as the Alpha variant was seen in 180 countries, territories or areas, and 13 new countries, territories or areas reported cases of the Delta variant. While the Alpha variant is still detected more often than its counterpart, the Delta variant is believed by the WHO to be 50% more transmissible and might become the dominant form of the virus in the next few months.

The number of Covid-related deaths, registered worldwide in the past seven days, grew 30% compared to the previous seven-day period, reaching about 70,000, according to TASS calculations. The number of confirmed cases all over the globe stands at 3.7 million, compared to 3.5 million a week earlier. The pace of infection has intensified in various parts of the world. In the US, the number of confirmed cases registered daily more than tripled in the reported period, exceeding 60,000 daily. It may be the start of the fourth Covid-19 wave in the country. Indonesia and Malaysia have reached the peak of the outbreak with about 45,000 and 12,000 new cases registered daily. At the same time, the situation is worsening in other parts of Asia. Iran is now reporting about 25,000 confirmed cases daily – the country's all-time high since the start of the pandemic – and Turkey – almost 10,000 – twice as high as during the previous week. Read: Global Covid cases top 193 million New wave in Europe A new wave of the pandemic reached Europe, primarily its western regions. The daily number of confirmed cases almost doubled in Italy, to 5,500 cases per day, and the authorities have started to impose new restrictions. From early August, citizens will be allowed to visit cafes, gyms, museums and public events only if they obtained a "Covid passport," issued to vaccinated persons, convalescents and people with negative PCR tests. Similar measures have already been introduced in France, where the daily number of confirmed cases tripled since the previous week. On Thursday, more than 21,000 Covid-19 cases were registered in the country, the biggest single-day tally since early May. The UK has recorded the highest number of cases in Europe. In the past week, the country's daily case count exceeded 50,000 twice. Overall, about 320,000 people contracted the infection in the UK in the past week. The pace of the infection is growing in other European countries as well. For example, cases in Germany increased 45% in the past week compared to the previous week, and 20% in Spain. Read: Chinese COVID shot may offer elderly poor protection Fatalities spike The Covid-19 mortality is on the rise primarily in Asia, with Indonesia being hit hardest, registering about 1,300 deaths per day. Iran and Malaysia report about 200 Covid fatalities daily. However, mortality is declining in the majority of Latin American countries, which went through the second wave of the pandemic in spring and early summer. For example, Brazil is registering about 1,100 cases daily, the lowest number since February. Despite a sharp increase in cases, mortality remains low in European countries. However, the overall mortality from the novel coronavirus infection is now declining and currently stands at approximately 2.15%.

The novel coronavirus pandemic is at a very dangerous stage at the moment, despite the global community’s successes in fighting it, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday. "While we have progress in controlling the pandemic, it remains in a very dangerous phase," the WHO chief said at a meeting of the ACT Accelerator Facilitation Council. In the current situation, "the only way out is to support countries in the equitable distribution of PPE [personal protective equipment], tests, treatments and vaccines," he continued. Ghebreyesus added that states with sufficient instruments to fight the novel coronavirus have already started to ease pandemic-related restrictions. "Meanwhile, countries without access to sufficient supplies are facing waves of hospitalizations and death," he added. Also read: Global Covid-19 incidence rises 3% over week: WHO The WHO director general also raised the issue during another event on Tuesday, while attending the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) High-Level Political Forum. In his address, Ghebreyesus noted "steep epidemic" in African, Asian and American countries. "In fact, these cases and deaths are largely avoidable," he said, calling upon the global community to "use all the tools at our disposal to prevent transmission." According to Ghebreyesus, the pandemic demonstrated that "relying on a few companies to supply global public goods is limiting and risky." "We have to learn the lessons of COVID-19," he said, calling upon the global community "to prepare for the next one." In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Also read: 'Dangerous period' with delta variant: WHO Since the start of pandemic, 183,934,913 cases have been reported worldwide, while the death toll stands at 3,985,022. The number of cases grew by 326,231 in the past 24 hours, while the number of deaths increased by 6,347. The international partnership named the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, or ACT-Accelerator, was officially launched on April 24 by the WHO, the EU, France, and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates. As the WHO explained, the new initiative "is a unique partnership of many of the world’s international health organizations who have come together to share, and build on, individual expertise to create a powerful global solution that will ensure equity in access to tests, vaccines, treatments across the world with one goal: to reduce the burden of the COVID-19.".

Even after more than a year of devastating coronavirus surges across the world, the intensity and scale of India’s current crisis stands out, with patients desperate for short supplies of oxygen, pleas for help from overwhelmed hospitals, and images of body bags and funeral pyres. As daily case counts soar far beyond what other countries have reported, experts caution the official COVID-19 numbers from the world’s second most populous country are likely a massive undercount. But why is India’s data considered inaccurate? Is the data any less accurate than what other nations report? And which numbers give a good indication of the crisis? IS INDIA COUNTING EVERY CASE? India is not counting every coronavirus case, but no nation can. Around the world, official tallies generally report only confirmed cases, not actual infections. Cases are missed because testing is so haphazard and because some people infected by the coronavirus experience mild or even no symptoms. The more limited the testing, the more cases are being missed. The World Health Organization says countries should be doing 10 to 30 tests per confirmed case. India is doing about five tests for every confirmed case, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. The U.S. is doing 17 tests per confirmed case. Finland is doing 57 tests per confirmed case. “There are still lots of people who are not getting tested,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto. “Entire houses are infected. If one person gets tested in the house and reports they’re positive and everyone else in the house starts having symptoms, it’s obvious they have COVID, so why get tested?” Jha estimates, based on modeling from a previous surge in India, that the true infection numbers could be 10 times higher than the official reports. WHAT ABOUT DEATHS? Deaths are a better indicator of the shape of the pandemic curve, Jha said, but there are problems with the data here too. “The biggest gap is what’s going on in rural India,” Jha said. In the countryside, people often die at home without medical attention, and these deaths are vastly underreported. Families bury or cremate their loved ones themselves without any official record. Seventy percent of the nation’s deaths from all causes occur in rural India in any given year. Counting rural deaths can be done, as Jha’s work with the Million Death Study has shown. The pre-pandemic project used in-person surveys to count deaths in rural India, capturing details of symptoms and circumstances with results of the “ verbal autopsies ” reviewed and recorded by doctors. Many low- and middle-income countries have similar undercounts of death data, Jha said, but India could do better. “It’s a country that’s got a space program. Just counting the dead is a basic function,” he said. “India should be doing much, much better.” DOES IT MATTER? Knowing the size and scope of the outbreak and how it is changing helps governments and health officials plan their responses. Even with the known problems with the data, the trajectory of COVID-19 cases and deaths in India is an alarming reminder of how the virus can rocket through a largely unvaccinated population when precautions are lifted. “What happens in India matters to the entire world,” said Dr. Amita Gupta, chair of the Johns Hopkins India Institute in a Facebook conversation Thursday. “We care from a humanitarian perspective, a public health perspective, and a health security perspective.”

Nearly 48% of the Bangladeshi migrant workers, who were forced to return home last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, are now dependent on loans and relatives' support in the absence of any regular source of income, says a Brac survey. Many of them returned due to fear of getting infected, some lost jobs as companies closed operations, some returned permanently, while others returned on leave. Also read: 70pc Bangladeshi returnee migrants struggling to find jobs: IOM Many of them could not get back to their old jobs or migrate again to find a new job because of global lockdown. This has left 98% of such returnees with severe anxiety, depression, and psychological disorders.  Read WB approves $200 million to help Dhaka support urban poor, migrants The other 52% have started small businesses or are working as day labourers to make a living, said the Brac Migration Program survey titled "Searching and Analysing the Socio-economic Status of Returnees." Brac surveyed 417 Bangladeshi returnees across seven divisions from March to April 2021 to explore and analyse their socio-economic and psycho-social situation, one year after their return to Bangladesh amid the pandemic. Also read: MoU signed for helping returnee migrants The majority of the respondents were returnees from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and others returned from Italy, the UK, and Malaysia. Around 19% of the respondents said they had returned to Bangladesh after losing their job, whereas 16% were forced to return, 16% returned due to the fear of Covid-19, 12% returned permanently, 2% returned due to illness, and 35% returned on leave. Some 28% of the respondents claimed to be already in debt. Also read: Over half of returnee migrants in need of financial aid now: Brac Nearly 5 lakh people had to return to Bangladesh from their host countries due to the pandemic which has been raging since the end of 2019, the study says. More than 10 million Bangladeshi expatriates are working across the globe now. The country’s remittance inflow reached $22 billion last year despite the virus outbreak, the highest on record. Read Govt to expats: Don’t come during lockdown, except for emergencies

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency is reporting the country’s civil aviation agency has banned all flights to and from India and Pakistan because of the dramatic surge in coronavirus cases in the two nations. IRNA says the decision was made by Iran’s Health Ministry and it takes effect Saturday at midnight. Also Read: Why India is shattering global infection records Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh, spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization noted there are no routine flights between Iran and India and “flights are operated occasionally.” Several other countries in the region, including the sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait, also have banned flights to and from India over the rise in coronavirus cases there. Zibakhsh said flights to and from 41 countries already were prohibited in Iran, while those who want to fly to other countries listed as high risk are required to have a coronavirus test in Iran. Travelers over 8 years old need to submit a negative PCR test within 96 hours of departure and do another test on arrival. Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said 18,230 new confirmed cases over 24 hours, bringing Iran’s total on Saturday to more than 2,377,000. Also Read: India records world's highest single-day spike in Covid cases

The restrictions on movement are likely to be relaxed to some extent from April 28, two weeks before the Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims. But there has not been any final decision yet and it is not clear right now to which extent the restrictions will be slackened. “The decision will be taken on April 28,” State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB. Read Extension of lockdown causing anxiety among low income earners  “Even if the restrictions are relaxed, we’ll have to properly maintain health guidelines and the government will ensure strict implementation of ‘no mask, no service’ policy,” he said. State Minister Farhad said health guidelines will be ensured after the shops and shopping malls are opened from April 25. “Covid infections can be kept in check if all of us follow health guidelines, wear masks and maintain recommended physical distancing,” he said. “We’ll get a positive result if we follow the restrictions until April 28. We’re focusing on health rules.” Also read: Govt issues circular extending lockdown until April 28 No decision on public transport Asked what the relaxed lockdown will look like, State Minister Farhad said there won’t be many restrictions. “The existing ones will be limited. There’ll be guidelines for daily life,” he said. A circular will be issued within April 28 on the operation of offices. Farhad said they are discussing the public transport issue. “There hasn’t been any decision yet. But once they resume, we’ll ensure that health rules are strictly followed,” he noted. Read More people, vehicles on Dhaka roads in defiance of lockdown rules

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.

US health officials have confirmed fewer than 6,000 cases of Covid-19 in fully vaccinated Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Seventy-four of them died. The cases represent just 0.007% of the 84 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, reports CNBC. Despite the 'breakthrough' infections, Dr Walensky this week said the vaccines are working as intended.  Read Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot "With any vaccine, we expect such rare cases, but so far out of more than 84 million people who were fully vaccinated, we have only received reports of less than 6,000 breakthrough cases," Walensky told reporters at a press briefing on Monday. Breakthrough cases are defined as someone contracting the virus more than 14 days after their second shot of the vaccine, i.e. when they can be said to be fully vaccinated. "Although this number is from 43 states and territories and likely an underestimate, it still makes a really important point, these vaccines are working. Of the nearly 6,000 cases, approximately 30% had no symptoms at all," Walensky said. "This is really encouraging news. It demonstrates what we’ve already discussed about these vaccines. They also help prevent you from getting seriously ill." Also read: Oregon: CDC investigating woman’s death after J&J vaccine Out of the 6,000 or so breakthrough infections, 396 people were hospitalized and 74 people died, according to CDC data released last week. The breakthrough infections have been reported in people of all ages. Around 45% of the infections were in patients over 60 years old.  Some 65% of these breakthrough infections have been reported in females.  Also read: Global Covid-19 cases cross 144 million Half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of those aged 65 and older, 81% have received one dose or more and about two-thirds are fully vaccinated. CDC's breakthrough case investigations According to the CDC, there will be "a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19." Variants will cause some of these breakthroughs.  Also read: Fully vaccinated people can travel safely again, CDC says It adds that "[t]o date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections." The CDC website reiterates that the Covid-19 vaccines are effective, and recommends that all eligible people get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them.