COVID-19 patients
Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Bangladesh recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death figure, the mortality from the Coronavirus rose to 11,755, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new cases during the period.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,67,338.
However, the infection rate fell to 8.59 percent from Tuesday’s 8.71 percent while the fatality rate remained static at 1.53 percent.
The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
In the last 24 hours, 427 labs across the country tested 20,284 samples.
Among the recent deaths, 32 were men while 18 were women.
Besides 3,433 patients recovered from Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.02%.
Also Read: Serum to return money if fails to provide vaccine: Finance Minister
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended since April 26, and no one in the country has received the second dose in the last 48 hours.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
In the last 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 31,06709 people managed to complete their second dose.
Also Read: Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we’ve some 14 lakh doses in stock.”
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Also Read: New variant may be behind Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Lockdown extended
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Covid claims 61 more lives, infects 1,914 others in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged 61 more coronavirus-related deaths and 1,914 new cases in 24 hours until Tuesday morning, showing a slight downtrend in daily fatalities and an uptick in infections.
The latest figures pushed up the death toll to 11,705 and the caseload to 7,65,596, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the infection rate fell to 8.71 percent from Monday’s 8.95 percent while the fatality rate rose to 1.53 percent.
Bangladesh has recorded 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.
Bangladesh has so far tested 55,40,394 samples, 21,984 in the last 24 hours, according to DGHS handout data, provided this morning.
There has been a steady decline in tests between April 28 and May 2, leading to fewer case counts. New cases declined between April 26 (3,306) and May 2 (1,359) before an upward curve in the next two following days.
So far, 90.78 percent of the total patients (6,95,032) have recovered, including 3,870 new ones. The recovery number has been on the wane between April 28 and May 2 and picked up again from Monday.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Around 21 pc of total deaths reported in April alone
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year, before confirming the first death 10 days later.
21% of total deaths in April
April has been the worst month for Bangladesh with 2,404 fatalities, accounting for 20.99 percent of the total death toll, and 147,837 new cases, according to DGHS.
In Bangladesh, 568 coronavirus-related deaths were reported in January, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division saw most of the deaths – 6,812 or 58.20 percent – of the total fatalities.
Twenty-eight of the 61 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 18 from Chattogram division.
Lockdown continues till May 16
The ongoing lockdown imposed on April 5 has been extended until May 16 but people are hardly following health safety rules.
Also read: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
They are still crowding shopping malls and markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of the Muslims. Photos and videos shot by UNB correspondents show overcrowded shopping places and total indifference towards health guidelines.
There will hardly be any positive outcome if the people don’t follow health rules to protect themselves and others around them from coronavirus.
Meanwhile, intra-district public transport services will be allowed to resume from May 6.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose was announced of remaining suspended from April 26.
Also read: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina
DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam had assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May.
In the last 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, said the DGHS handout.
The registration process for receiving the vaccine jab remains shut.
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.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said the Chinese government is working to start delivering Covid-19 vaccine doses before Eid-ul-Fitr although a 5-day May Day holiday is underway in China.
Also read: Dhaka hopeful of getting vaccine doses from China before Eid
Meanwhile Health Minister Zahid Maleque shared a more specific date – May 10.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and Health Care Pharma have the capacity of producing vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Director General of DGDA Mahbubur Rahman told reporters.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
8,873 general, 565 ICU beds available for Covid patients
While the country witnesses a continuous upsurge in coronavirus cases, 8,873 general and 565 ICU beds are available across the eight divisions for Covid-19 patients.
Health Ministry on Sunday said in a press release that as many Covid patients have left the hospital after recovery, these beds are now unoccupied.
From the data provided by the hospitals in eight districts, the total Covid-dedicated number of beds in the country is now 12,347 and the number of ICU beds is 1,092.
Also read: DNCC Market Hospital to get 200 new ICU beds: Health Minister
In hospitals of Dhaka city, 3,799, beds are unoccupied of the 5,626 general beds.
Of the total 773 ICU beds, 420 are available now in the city.
Country’s recovery rate 90%
So far, 687,328 people have recovered, including 2,657 in the last 24 hours, according to DGHS.
Also read: Covid-19 surge lays bare another crisis: Scant ICU beds and specialists
This projects a 90.21 percent recovery among the patients.
Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts say lockdown likely to pay off
Experts think that the ongoing lockdown in Bangladesh appears to be paying off as both the active coronavirus cases and death toll have marked a sharp fall over the last few days in the country.
They, however, fear that the benefits might be short-lived ones as the government has allowed shopping malls to reopen and is thinking of resuming public transport services soon though the virus is yet to come under control.
The analysts warned that the Covid situation is likely to worsen again with the hordes of shoppers and holidaymakers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the largest religious festivals of Muslims to be celebrated in the middle of this month.
They advised the government to announce a stimulus package for the transport workers instead of resuming transport service, enforce the law to make people to wear masks and maintain health safety rules and increase vigilance along the border to check any possible trespassing or illegal entry to Bangladesh from India to maintain the improved trend in the Covid situation.
The government imposed a complete countrywide lockdown on April 14 for a week to tackle the worsening Covid situation, and later it was extended up to May 5. But the government gave permission for reopening shops and malls across the country from April 25 amid lockdown.
Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Saturday the government is considering the resumption of public transport services in the country ahead of Eid.
Bangladesh’s health authorities reported 69 more deaths and 1,359 new cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The virus infection rate that increased to 23 percent early last month has now dropped to 9.60 percent on Sunday.
Lockdown proves to be effective
Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director (disease control) of the DGHS, said the fall in the number of Covid cases and deaths has manifested that the ongoing lockdown has proved to be good.
“As the offices and mass transport service remains shut, people’s movement has declined, contributing to reducing the virus transmission,” he said
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The health authorities reported 69 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 11,569, as Bangladesh grapples to tackle the second wave of the pandemic.
Besides, 1,359 new cases were detected after examining 14,158 samples, the lowest number of tests since April 18, according to government data.
The health authorities have so far tested 5,498,979 samples. There has been a steady decline in the number of tests since April 28. New cases have been on the wane since April 26 but fell dramatically since April 28, data available on corona.gov.bd show.
However, the daily infection rate fell to 9.6 percent from Saturday’s 9.61 percent while the fatality rate rose to 1.52 percent from 1.51 percent a day before, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the new cases, the country’s total Covid-19 caseload now stands at 761,943, the DGHS handout said.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 that year.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 77 deaths, new cases 2,955
12 die as Delhi hospital runs out of oxygen
The oxygen crisis in the Indian capital is escalating with each passing day. A week after 50 patients on ventilator died at two private hospitals in Delhi due to "low pressure oxygen", 12 more people lost their lives at another leading medical facility in the national capital on Saturday after it ran out of the life-saving gas.
Batra Hospital said the Covid care facility ran out of oxygen at 11.45am. "Supply came at 1.30pm (a second tanker reached at around 4pm). But we were out of oxygen for 1 hour and 20 mins. By the time supplies came, 12 people, including a doctor, were dead. Most of them were Covid patients on life support," the hospital said in a statement.
The deceased doctor has been identified as RK Himthani, the head of the hospital's gastroenterology unit. "He was also a Covid patient undergoing treatment at the hospital. Over 200 patients at the medical facility are still in a critical condition," a spokesperson for Batra told the media.
Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter to express his anguish at the loss of lives. "The central government) Friday told the Supreme Court that some 10,000 MT oxygen is produced daily in the country, which is quite surplus to the daily needs of 7500MT. Delhi needs 976MT, yet Delhi's quota is 490MT and supplies only 312MT. Why?"
Also read: 25 die in Delhi hospital due to oxygen shortage
India's main opposition Congress party's chief Sonia Gandhi too lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in the country.
In a video message, the 74-year-old called for a nationwide strategy to fight the surge in Covid cases in India. "Testing should be increased across the country and medical oxygen and other resources should be arranged on war footing. Free vaccination should be arranged for all the citizens so that people can be saved," she said.
"It's high time that the federal and state governments wake up and fulfil their responsibilities. Migration of the labourers should be stopped. A minimum of Rs 6,000 should be added to their accounts till the crisis is over," Gandhi said in the video message shared by the Congress on the party's official Twitter handle.
Gandhi's call for a nationwide strategy and the 12 deaths at the Delhi hospital came on a day when India registered a record four lakh cases in a span of 24 hours, for the first time after reporting over three lakh daily infections for nine days in a row. Delhi alone has been logging nearly 20,000-25,000 Covid cases daily for the past fortnight.
Also read: Indian capital gasps for oxygen
In the past one week, at least 50 Covid patients on life support have died at two leading Delhi hospitals due to oxygen shortage. On April 24, Jaipur Golden Hospital, a dedicated Covid medical facility in Delhi, announced the death of 25 Covid patients in 24 hours due to "low-supply oxygen" to critical patients on ventilator.
A day before, another leading hospital in Delhi also said in a statement that 25 patients lost their lives in 24 hours due to an acute shortage of oxygen. "25 sickest patients have died in the last 24 hours. Oxygen will last another two hours. Major crisis likely. Lives of 60 sickest patients at risk, need urgent intervention," Sir Ganga Ram Hospital had said.
It may also be mentioned here that as many as 24 Covid patients on ventilator at a government hospital in the western state of Maharashtra died some 10 days ago after their oxygen supply ran out following leakage of the life-supporting gas from a tanker. The tanker was brought to Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital in Nashik district to replenish the cylinders.
60 more die in Bangladesh as Covid continues its onslaught
The death toll from Covid-19 hit 11,510 in Bangladesh on Saturday as the country logged 60 more fatalities in 24 hours until Saturday morning, as all efforts to stop the pandemic have apparently gone in vain.
However, the country reported new cases of 1,452 during the 24-hour period ending at 8am, which was said to the lowest daily count in 48 days.
The overall infection tally reached 760,584 with the new cases and the positivity rate fell to 9.61% from Friday's 10.34%. But the death rate remained unchanged at 1.51%, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
On March 14, Bangladesh reported 1,159 cases in 24 hours. The country's infection rate came down below 10% on Thursday after over a month, as it reported a 7.68% infection rate on March 17 and it rose to 10.45% the following day. Since then, the infection rate began an upward march.
Bangladesh on Friday reported its single-day Covid-19 death toll of 57, the lowest in 25 days.
According to the DGHS, 684,671 infected people have recovered from the disease so far and 3,245 of them in the past 24 hours.
The country conducted 15,117 new tests over the same period, which was 21,046 on Friday.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 548,4821 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year the first death on the 18th of that month.
The country recorded 52 coronavirus-related deaths on April 5, 78 on April 27, and 77 on April 28, showing a downtrend. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases top 151 million
April remains cruel
April still remains to be the cruel month for Bangladesh since the outbreak of the pandemic last year as 147,837 cases of infections and over 2,404 deaths were officially registered.
As the virus continues its onslaught, 568 people lost their lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,714 or 58.33%.
Twenty-eight of the 60 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 19 from Chattogram division.
Lockdown to continue until May 5
Given the surge in new infections and deaths from the virus, the government enforced a nationwide lockdown in early April. Having failed to contain the current surge, the government imposed a strict lockdown on April 11 and then extended it up to April 28.
Also read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 5
On Wednesday, the government issued a circular extending the lockdown up to May 5, as there is no improvement in a spike in Covid-19 infections.
India: 18 die in fire at Covid hospital
At least 18 people died in a fire that broke out at a Covid hospital in the western Indian state of Gujarat in the wee hours of Saturday, officials said.
The deaths come on a day when India registered a record 4 lakh cases in 24 hours, for the first time after reporting over 3 lakh daily infections for nine days in a row.
In fact, there were 70 patients when the blaze started at Welfare Hospital on the Bharuch-Jambusar Highway, around 200 km from state capital Ahmedabad. At least five fire tenders were pressed into service and it took them two hours to contain the blaze.
Of the 18 dead, 16 were Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment at the hospital. Two others were hospital staffers who had been attending to patients, officials said.
Also read: Fire at Baghdad hospital kills several Covid patients
"A total of 18 people, including two hospital employees, died in the fire," Bharuch District Collector MD Modia told the media. "The remaining 50 patients were safely shifted to a nearby hospital."
Local TV channels beamed footage of the charred bodies being pulled out of the hospital.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch". "Condolences to the bereaved families," he tweeted.
Also read: 25 Covid patients die in Delhi hospital
A probe has been ordered into the incident, the District Collector said.
This is the second horrific hospital fire tragedy in India in the past one and a half months.
On March 26, some 10 Covid patients were killed in a massive fire that broke out at a coronavirus hospital in the Indian city of Mumbai.
The fire started at the first floor of Dreams Mall in Mumbai's Bhandup area and soon engulfed Sunrise Hospital on the fourth floor. At least 22 fire tenders were pressed into service but it took them several hours to contain the blaze.
Also read: Oxygen tank leak claims 22 lives in India Covid hospital
Bangladesh's daily Covid-19 death toll drops below 60
Bangladesh on Friday reported its single-day Covid-19 death toll of 57, the lowest in 25 days, even though the virus surge still remained at the disturbing level.
The new figure that came in the last 24 hours until Friday morning brought the country's total fatalities to 11,450 while health authorities reported 2,177 new cases during the period.
The infection rate rose to 10.34% from Thursday's 9.39% while the death rate remained static at 1.51%, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country’s infection rate came down below 10% on Thursday after over a month, as it reported a 7.68% infection rate on March 17 and it rose to 10.45% the following day. Since then, the infection rate began an upward march.
The country recorded 52 coronavirus-related deaths on April 5, 78 on April 27, and 77 on April 28, showing a downtrend. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.
With the latest figure, 7,59,132 cases have been detected so far in Bangladesh.
The number of recoveries now stands at 681,426, meaning 89.76% of the patients have recovered till now, the DGHS said.
Bangladesh has so far tested 5,469,704 samples, including 21,046 in the past 24 hours. The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
April, the fatal month
In the last 30 days, 23,889 cases of infections and more than 2,404 deaths were officially registered, making April the most fatal month since the outbreak began last year.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,686 or 58.39%.
Twenty-eight of the 57 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 13 from Chattogram division.
Lockdown extended till May 5
To break the Covid chain, the government enforced a nationwide lockdown in early April. Having failed to achieve the intended results, it imposed a strict lockdown on April 11 and then extended it up to April 28.
On Wednesday, the government issued a circular extending the lockdown up to May 5, as there is no improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
However, shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm during the period, the announcement said.
Vaccination
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from India's Serum Institute.
The country signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain. The administering of the first dose remained suspended since Monday.
DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May.
Vaccine production in Bangladesh
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on Thursday approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine. It approved the emergency use of the Sputnik V Vaccine of Russia a day earlier.
"We'll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as a gift within 7-10 days. Then we'll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on a G2G basis," Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA told reporters on Thursday.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and HealthCare Pharma have the capacity of producing vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Mahbubur said.
On Thursday, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through the direct procurement method (DPM)
India's Covid crisis
The explosion of new Covid-19 cases is overwhelming Bangladesh's largest neighbour India, leaving millions of people infected and putting stress on the country's already overtaxed health care system.
With 386,452 new cases, India confirmed more than 18.7 million on Friday since the pandemic began, the second only to the US.
Its health ministry also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330. Experts said the actual figures were likely much higher but it is unclear by how much.
Months ago, India had appeared to be winning its battle against the pandemic. After a strict initial lockdown, the country did not see a surge in new cases and deaths compared to other countries.
But when the early restrictions were lifted, many people stopped taking precautions with large gatherings, political rallies and religious festivals being held at many places, drawing millions of people.
Bangladesh-India border sealed
On April 26, Bangladesh closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargoes for the next 14 days as the coronavirus situation in the neighbouring country had gone out of control.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Daily deaths shoot past 100; new cases fall dramatically
After a slight fall for several days, Bangladesh’s daily coronavirus death toll crossed the 100-mark again on Sunday with a sharp fall in new cases.
Fatalities climbed to 11,053 with 101 deaths in the past 24 hours until the morning. The virus also infected 2,922 people, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
The daily infection rate rose to 13.33 percent from Saturday’s 13.11 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.48 percent.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed 745,322 coronavirus cases.
Also read: Border with India to remain shut for 14 days: FM
Between April 16 and 19, the country recorded over 100 deaths, breaking all previous records. The country registered 91, 95 and 98 Covid-related deaths on April 20, 21 and 22 respectively.
On April 23 ad 24, the number fell to 88 and 83.
Bangladesh has so far tested 5,345,501 samples, including 21,922 in the last 24 hours.