coronavirus situation
Lockdown/Lock-in: Rajshahi taken off rail network to fight surge in infections
The government has decided to keep passenger train services between Rajshahi and other parts of the country suspended from Friday in the wake of the increased detection rate of Covid-19 infection in the frontier districts.
The suspension of services will be effective until midnight past June 17, Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman, director (public relations) of Bangladesh Railway, said Thursday.
Bangladesh Railway came up with the announcement as the local administration has imposed an all-out lockdown in the Rajshahi city for a week, starting 5pm Friday, amid a spike in Covid-19 infections there.
Also read: Train services to resume at half capacity from Monday
No vehicle will be allowed into Rajshahi city and transports cannot leave the area. However, emergency vehicles are exempt from the lockdown.
Rajshahi division confirmed 815 daily cases – the highest in the country — in the past 24 hours until Thursday morning. Eight people died from Covid-19 there during the same period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Also read: Passenger train services to remain suspended during lockdown: Minister
On May 24, regular train services across the country were resumed after suspension of over a month as part of the government restrictions on people's movement to curb coronavirus transmission. However, the authorities were asked to keep 50% of seats vacant for ensuring social distancing.
On April 5, passenger train services were suspended across the country as part of a countrywide lockdown – imposed to tackle the second wave of infection.
Covid-19: Elections of 163 union parishads, 9 municipalities postponed
Taking stock of the Covid-19 situation in the country, the Election Commission (EC) has postponed elections to 163 union parishads in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Noakhali, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.
Elections to 68 union parishads in Bagerhat, 34 in Khulna, 21 in Satkhira, 13 in Noakhali, 12 in Chattogram, and 15 in Cox's Bazar have been withheld, which were scheduled for June 21.
The commission has also decided to postpone elections to nine municipalities, out of 11, slated for the same date.
Also read: Covid positivity rate in Bangladesh hits 13.25 %, highest in 46 days
However, 204 other union parishads will go to the polls as per schedule on June 21; by-polls to Lakshmipur-2 will also be held as per schedule on the same date.
The decisions came at an urgent meeting of the commission Thursday amid an upward march of Covid-19 infections in the electoral areas.
Also read: By-elections: 94 aspirants collect nomination papers from the Awami League
The meeting also decided to reschedule by-polls to Dhaka-14, Cumilla-5 and Sylhet-3 to July 28 from July 14.
The commission postponed the polls after considering recommendations of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, local administration, and regional election officials, EC Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandakar said.
Europe tells tourists: Welcome back! Now work out the rules
Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists — and their dollars — to the continent’s trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.
As the European Union’s doors reopen one by one to the outside world for the first time since March 2020, tourists will discover a patchwork of systems instead of a single border-free leisure zone, because national governments have resisted surrendering control over their frontiers amid the pandemic. And post-Brexit Britain is going its own way altogether.
Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.
Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.
FRANCE
If you’re vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans — as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination — but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.
France’s borders officially reopened Wednesday. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few “green” countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.
Tourists are banned from 16 countries wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants that are on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.
Non-vaccinated visitors from “orange list” countries — including the U.S. and Britain — can’t come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.
Also read: Eyeing variant, France mulls tighter limits for UK tourists
ITALY
Americans — the second-biggest group of foreign tourists to Italy — have been welcome since mid-May. However, they need to self-isolate upon arrival for 10 days unless they arrive on so-called “COVID-tested flights.” That means passengers are tested before and after the flight and must fill out documents about their whereabouts to facilitate contact tracing if required.
“COVID-tested” flights from the U.S. started in December and have also been operating since May from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Italy also started allowing tourists from Britain and Israel last month, meaning they no longer need an “essential” reason to visit and don’t have to self-isolate, providing they present proof of a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.
The same rules apply to travelers from EU countries and those on “COVID-tested” flights from the U.S., Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
GREECE
Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.
All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.
Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn’t wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.
SPAIN
Spain kicked off its summer tourism season Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.
Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization — as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.
Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.
Also read: Int'l tourist arrivals fall 87% in Jan: UNWTO
But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.
BRITAIN
There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the “amber” list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.
U.K. and U.S. airlines and airport operators are pushing for a travel corridor to allow tourism to resume, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to raise the issue when he meets President Joe Biden at a G-7 summit in England this week.
Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.
EUROPEAN UNION
The 27-nation EU has no unified COVID tourism or border policy, but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. EU lawmakers endorsed the plan Wednesday.
The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.
Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.
It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.
Bangladesh ill-equipped to cope with Delta variant of Covid: Experts
As the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 has made its way into Dhaka and other districts from frontier ones, experts fear an impending health catastrophe in the coming weeks since there is no strict measure in place to stop it.
They said half-hearted preventive measures, lack of seriousness of local administrations, reopening of intra-district transport services and people’s apathy to maintain health safety guidelines are the major reasons behind the worsening Covid situation in the country.
The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research has recently found 80 percent of a randomly selected sample of 50 Covid patients infected with the Delta variant.
It also said the deadly variant has spread to parts of central Bangladesh, including the capital, while seven workers of Ashrayan Project in Nawabganj upazila of Dhaka have been detected with the same virus strain.
The sudden spike in virus cases has put a severe strain on four major hospitals ---Rajshahi Medical College, Khulna Medical College, Chapainawabganj and Kushtia General Hospital--with increasing patients from 11 nearby districts.
Also read: IEDCR study of 50 samples finds 40 are Delta
Experts said the government should immediately increase the number of beds, doctors and nurses and treatment facilities, in these hospitals to cope with the pressure of Covid patients.
The virus infection has been showing an upward trend in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Kushtia, Jashore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Natore, Noakhali and Cox's Bazar districts for several days.
Indian cities unlocking after declining COVID-19 infections
With COVID-19 infections coming down to the lowest level country-wide in nearly two months to 120,529 new cases during the last 24 hours, India’s major cities today announced significant relaxations in lockdowns in New Delhi and Mumbai.
Government and private offices will be allowed to reopen with 50 percent attendance from Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a media briefing. Markets and malls will reopen on an odd-even basis from 10 am to 8 pm. Delhi Metro will operate at 50 percent capacity.
In Mumbai too, offices will only be allowed from Monday to function with 50 percent capacity till 4 pm. The same restriction will apply to restaurants both in occupancy level and timing of service. Fifty persons will be permitted at weddings and 20 at funerals.
Also read: Increase in Covid-19 vaccine production in India to be 'game changer' beyond borders: US
Malls and entertainment places, such as theatres, will continue to be locked down, but individual stores may stay open till 4 pm. Local train services will be restricted to those engaged in essential services, but buses may operate at full capacity with no standee passengers.
In Maharashtra state, the government has announced a five-level plan to relax the lockdowns based on the weekly positivity rate and the occupancy of oxygen beds.
Also read: Serum gets govt nod to produce Sputnik vaccine in India
Kejriwal said the Delhi government was preparing for the third wave of COVID-19 infections and projecting 37,000 daily cases at its peak. It was making arrangements for beds, ICUs and medicines with that projection in mind.
India’s latest infection figures show less than 200,000 daily new cases for nine days consecutively and a decrease in active cases by 80,745 in the last 24 hours. Such a pattern of decreases over a sustained period has prompted cities like New Delhi and Mumbai to relax restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Both cities had high infection rates during the second wave of COVID-19.
Covid-19: Bangladesh registers 43 more deaths; positivity rate hits 11.03%
As Coronavirus-related deaths and infections keep growing in Bangladesh again, the country recorded 43 more deaths in the past 24 hours till Saturday morning.
Besides, 1,447 new cases were registered during the period, taking the country's caseload to 809,314.
With the latest death toll, the total number of fatalities rose to 12,801.
The daily infection rate climbed to 11.03% from Friday's 10.40% while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new cases were detected after testing 13,115 samples.
Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions saw the highest fatalities during the period with 12 deaths each while Chattogram division witnessed eight deaths, Khulna five, Rangpur three, Mymensingh two and Sylhet one.
Of the deceased, 30 were men while 13 women.
Of them, one was below 10 years, one in his 20s, five are 30 years old, two of 40, 13 are of 50 old and 21 are above 60 years.
READ: 1st USAID consignment of Covid-19 response relief on way to Bangladesh
However, 749,425 patients have recovered so far, keeping the country’s recovery rate at 92.60%.
Bangladesh reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
1st USAID consignment of urgent medical supplies arriving soon
The first consignment of urgent medical supplies from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is scheduled to arrive here this week to help Bangladesh battle its latest COVID-19 surge.
As part of its ongoing emergency assistance to countries in South Asia, the US government through the USAID on Saturday airlifted urgent medical supplies to help Bangladesh.
The US Air Force C-17 flight departed from Travis Air Force Base in California for Dhaka, Bangladesh carrying over 2 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect thousands of health care workers in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Ambassador to USA M Shahidul Islam visited Travis Air Base to see the consignment.
"The generous support by the US government will greatly strengthen Bangladesh’s capacity to fight against COVID-19 pandemic," he tweeted.
READ: US unveils strategy for global vaccine sharing with Bangladesh, India on list
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, "I deeply value our partnership with Bangladesh, and I hope this support is a testament to our robust and growing ties."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was among the first donors of COVID-19 support in Bangladesh.
"As we dispatch an airlift of urgent medical supplies, we proudly reflect on five decades of health partnership and collaboration with the government and people of Bangladesh," he tweeted.
As one of the first and largest donors to Bangladesh’s COVID-19 response efforts, the U.S. government has contributed over $80 million in new and existing resources in assistance to date.
This assistance, which includes the delivery of ventilators, supports the country's capacity to test and diagnose the virus, increases prevention and control practices, strengthens supply chain and logistics management systems, enhances risk communications to counter misinformation, and ensures the effective roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, said USAID.
READ: US to swiftly boost global vaccine sharing, Biden announces
The United States said it stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Bangladesh as they combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We congratulate Bangladesh on marking 50 years of independence in 2021 and are proud to celebrate the 50th year of U.S.-Bangladesh relations in 2022. The United States has provided more than $1 billion in health assistance over the last 20 years to Bangladesh," said the USAID in a media release.
USAID’s long-standing partnership with Bangladesh demonstrates the United States’ commitment to ensuring access to quality, lifesaving health services for all Bangladeshis, it said.
The latest announcement builds on USAID’s ongoing efforts to help India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka battle the latest deadly surge of COVID-19 cases and further demonstrates the United States’ whole-of-government, global response to ensure lifesaving assistance reaches people who need it quickly.
USAID is coordinating additional shipments to South Asia in the coming weeks.
IEDCR study of 50 samples finds 40 are Delta
Delta, the Coronavirus variant first found in India, turned out to be 80% of some 50 genomes sequenced in Bangladesh since May 16 by IEDCR. There is also evidence of community transmission of the variant, according to research jointly carried out by IEDCR and IDSHI.
The study also identified one "unknown variant" and found 8 of the samples (16%) to be infected with the South African variant.
IEDCR and IDSHI collected and analysed 50 samples from across the country, including border districts and the capital since May 16.
The research also found 40 out of the total 50 cases as Delta variant, known as Indian variant, in samples collected from Chapainawabganj, Gopalganj, Khulna, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Bagerhat, Jhenaidah and Pirojpur.
Also read: Indian Variant: The New Concern
Also, among the 40 patients, eight were tested positive after returning from India while 18 others came in contact with overseas returnees although they did not travel abroad.
Meanwhile, among the samples collected, 14 infected people neither went abroad nor came in contact with people with travel history. So, it is clear that the Indian variant is being transmitted at the community level inside the country, the research said.
On May 8, the Indian variant was detected in Bangladesh for the first time. All of the infected people returned from the neighbouring country.
The "highly contagious" Indian Delta variant was first detected in October last year. The World Health Organization labelled it a "variant of concern."
Also read: 8 Indian variant cases identified in Jashore
Dismissing all concerns, Razzaque takes mantle of speaking for health sector
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Friday said the health sector won’t face any fund crisis to tackling the Covid-19 situation.
“Fund will be given to the health sector whenever the money is required,” he said at a virtual post-budget press conference.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal also addressed the press conference, arranged a day after he placed the proposed budget for 2021-22 fiscal in Parliament.
Dr Razzaque said the Finance Ministry also repeatedly assured that "money won’t be a problem," or "allocation won’t matter to face the corona."
He said the Prime Minister repeatedly advocated a balance between lives and livelihoods - the cardinal choice for policymakers in the pandemic era. Some on the left however, point to at least the possibility that this is a false dichotomy. Not Dr Razzaque though.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
"If the livelihood is not taken care of, many people will be severely affected or even die (without catching Covid)," he added.
The Agriculture Minister said the country’s economy is now vibrant and on a strong footing amid the growing reserves of foreign currency.
“The way the whole world is facing it (Covid-19), I think this government will also face it in that way. Money will not be a problem for it,” he said.
About the budgetary allocation for the health sector, Senior Secretary of Finance Division Abdur Rouf Talukder also said some Tk 14,200 crore has been kept in the proposed budget for procuring Covid vaccines during the upcoming fiscal year.
“We’ll provide the fund, if the health sector needs more money,” he said.
Also read: New budget: Tracking prices going up and down
The Finance Secretary said the budgetary allocation for the Health Services Division has increased by 13.2 percent for the upcoming fiscal year, compared to the outgoing fiscal year. But the overall budget size has risen by 6.3 percent. “So, the growth in the allocation for the health sector is more than double,” he said.
Replying to a question over the inability to spend more money on the health sector, Abdur Rouf said the government identified two problems – lack of capacity among the officials engaged in procurement, and mismatch between demand and supply during procurement.
He said the government will address the two problems in the upcoming fiscal year as it is going to take measures to provide training for the officials.
Planning Minister MA Mannan, PM’s Economic Affair Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, and National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, among others, spoke at the conference.
Bangladesh records 34 more Covid deaths; positivity rate crosses 10%
As the administration of the first dose of the vaccine remains suspended in Bangladesh since April 26, the country continues to battle Covid-19, logging 1,887 new cases after testing 18,151 samples until Friday morning.
The new number took the country's caseload to 807,867. Also, the daily infection rate rose to 10.40% from Thursday's 9.94% while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, the country confirmed 34 more deaths during the same period, raising the total number of fatalities to 12,758.
Dhaka division saw the highest fatalities during the period with the death of nine people while Chattogram witnessed six deaths, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Rangpur five each, Sylhet three and Barishal one.
READ: Covid-19: Govt to vaccinate 25 lakh people each month
However, 747,758 patients have recovered so far since the country reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Correlation between death rate, cases observed
To get an accurate measure of death rate, the number of infected people should be used as the denominator and the deceased as the numerator – both of which occurred and ended within a specified time, Dr AM Zakir Hussain, former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, told UNB.
"But for a disease like Covid-19, which still rages on, the rate should be considered in reference to a specific and relevant time. A recent assessment showed that the highest number of deaths occurred 14 days after the highest number of Covid-19 cases – a situation that still prevails in Bangladesh and India. So, the current method for estimating death rate is not accurate," he said.
What’s test positivity?
The Covid-19 positivity rate indicates, among other things, the number of people showing clinical features of the disease or the percentage of individuals suffering from the disease. Such estimation has two errors, Dr Zakir said.
READ: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 30 more deaths, 1,687 new infections
"One, an RT-PCR test, based on the present method of sample collection, misses about one-third of the actual cases. Two, when more than 20 cycles of diagnostic procedures are repeated even a single virus in a sample would show a positive result, which, however, will not indicate that the person who gave the sample will transmit the infection to others or that they will come down with the disease. An RT-PCR test shows positive results even when the virus is dead," he added.
Lockdown in districts
Due to the recent rise in Covid infections in frontier districts, district administrations have imposed lockdowns in Rajshahi, Khulna, Satkhira and parts of Naogaon districts to curb the transmission of the virus.
The district administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdowns in their areas if the Covid-19 situation worsens.