The 17th session of the 11th Parliament began at 5pm on Monday with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair. This is the second session of the running year. Also read: Focus on having EC formation law passed in current JS session: Minister The Parliament secretariat took adequate measurers to maintain social distance due to coronavirus. President Abdul Hamid, also the head of the state, convened the session exercising the power bestowed upon him as per the Clause (1) of Article 72 of the Constitution. Also read: President summons 17th JS session on March 28 The 16th session of 11th parliament was prorogued on 27 January after five sittings as the first session of the year began on 16 January.

Enforcing social distancing is easier said than done in Dhaka, a city where the average home is less than 120 square feet and a million people live in cheek-by-jowl urban slums. In the capital's Korail Bosti, an informal settlement of over 1 lakh residents, people live packed together, and few have access to health care. Social distancing is a way of controlling the infectious Covid-19. But maintaining physical distance and personal hygiene to stop the outbreak seems impossible here. There are homes of just one room with a family of six to seven people living inside. Also, shared kitchens, toilets, communal water sources, open sewers, non-existent waste disposal systems and the dwellers' poor economic conditions make them more vulnerable. As the pandemic unfolded in the country, the slums of the city were feared to become virus hotspots. However, there has been no evidence so far that Covid-19 wreaked havoc on the slums. Covid-19 is a rich man's disease, believe many slum dwellers and do not find it necessary to wear a mask. And it is unthinkable to enforce social distancing there where people live in very close quarters. Virologists say that the urban slums, including Korail, were always vulnerable not only to Covid-19 infections but also to all other viral diseases. However, a recent study, carried out by the icddr,b found 71 per cent of slum dwellers in Dhaka have developed coronavirus antibodies.  The icddr,b conducted the study "Drivers of Covid 19 in Slums and Non-slum Areas of Dhaka and Chattogram" on slum and non-slum areas in Dhaka and Chattogram between October last year and February this year. The slum dwellers might be already affected by a virus that works as a bulwark against Covid, protecting many poor people living there, according to experts.

Social distancing went for a toss as thousands thronged immunisation centres across the capital on Thursday to take their second Covid vaccine shots. In the Lalbag area, for instance, UNB found that health workers were literally struggling to manage large crowds. Many people who came to the centres in the area neither wore masks nor followed social distancing rules. Read: 2nd doses to be administered under mass vaccination on 3 days in cities, 1 day outside cities: PMO

The nation’s top public health agency said Friday that in-person schooling can resume safely with masks, social distancing and other strategies, and vaccination of teachers, while important, is not a prerequisite for reopening.

States are loosening their coronavirus restrictions on restaurants and other businesses because of improved infection and hospitalization numbers but are moving gradually and cautiously, in part because of the more contagious variant taking hold in the U.S.

It’s 2021 and the epidemic doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Despite heightened security and prompt responses in many parts of the world, the future remains uncertain and another lockdown could be imminent at any time. Unlike the first wave, everyone is better prepared; which means that picking up a new hobby during prolonged isolation could be the perfect opportunity to turn a grim situation into a productive one that we’d never have the time for otherwise. Here are a few hobbies to pick up if you find yourself back into quarantine. 

2020 was like a vertigo-experience for all of us—sometimes it felt like living secluded, confined in the idea of a fictitious border at the edge of the world, and harking back to those memories we have made before the pandemic tumbled upon us.

In short, no.

After around seven months of closure due to coronavirus pandemic , the National Zoo at Mirpur is going to be reopened for the visitors from November 1.

The nationwide Vitamin 'A' Plus Campaign will be held from October 4 to 17  for feeding Vitamin A plus capsules to 2.20 crore children aged between six and 59 months.