coronavirus situation
Covid-19: Strict restrictions imposed in Rajshahi, parts of Khulna, Naogaon
The local administration of some of the border districts have imposed strict restrictions for seven days to check the transmission of the Indian variant of coronavirus.
The decisions were taken after separate meetings as the government allowed the local administrations to impose lockdown if the situation worsens in their areas.
Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner Abdul Jalil announced the restrictions on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the fresh restrictions, none will be allowed to leave their houses from 7 pm to 8 am without any emergency reason in Rajshahi until June 9.
All business establishments and vehicular movement will remain shut during the time except those providing emergency services. However restaurants and traders can provide services online.
However, mango farmers and traders will carry on their business on a limited scale maintaining social distance.
Also read: Naogaon municipality, Niamatpur upazila put under one week lockdown
Similar restrictions have also been imposed in Rupsha Upazila, Khulna Sadar, Sonadanga and Khalishpur upazilas of Khulna for a week which will start from June 4.
Khulna Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Helal Hossain came up with the decision after a meeting with the district coronavirus prevention committee on Wednesday morning in presence of Khulna City Corporation Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleq.
All shops except pharmacies in those places will remain closed for a week from June 4.
Mobile courts and police were instructed to take necessary steps to ensure people maintain the health guidelines.
The city mayor said no gathering would be allowed after evening.
He also instructed all to maintain social distance and use masks.
Also read: Lockdown extended in Rohingya camps, Teknaf upazila
Besides, Naogaon municipality, Niamatpur upazila have been put under lockdown for a week.
University students to be vaccinated for reopening dorms: UGC
The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday decided to vaccinate university students as soon as possible so that their dormitories could be reopened.
The decision was taken at a virtual meeting chaired by Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni. The vice-chancellors of public universities and officials of the Education Ministry and UGC took part in the meeting.
As per the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, all the university students would be vaccinated on priority basis starting with residential ones.
Also read: Bangladesh sees rise in Covid infections; 41 more die
The meeting decided to permit all the public and private universities to conduct online and direct examinations at their respective university campuses.
The academic councils of the respective universities would take the final decisions regarding the online and direct examinations following the UGC instructions.
Also read: Take exams but don’t reopen halls: UGC
Dorms will be reopened making it sure that all the students are vaccinated and the academic activities of the universities are run regularly, said a UGC media release.
The universities were asked to prepare a Recovery Plan according to their capacity and the social reality so that the damage caused to the students during the pandemic could be minimised, the release added.
Lockdown extended in Rohingya camps, Teknaf upazila
The local administration on Tuesday extended the ongoing lockdown in Teknaf upazila and five Rohingya camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district in an effort to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission.
The existing lockdown will remain in force till June 6, officials here said.
Also read: Bangladesh sees rise in Covid infections; 41 more die
All the activities inside the Rohingya camps, apart from food and medicine supply, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas both in Cox’s Bazar district and Bhasan Char.
Also read: Strict lockdown imposed in Teknaf and five Rohingya camps
Authorities on May 21 enforced a week-long lockdown at five Rohingya refugee camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya upazilas in Cox’s Bazar following a recent spike in Covid-19 infections in the district.
At the same time, the government also announced a 10-day lockdown in Teknaf upazila to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
Bangladesh sees rise in Covid infections; 41 more die
Amid the growing trend in both the Coronavirus infections and fatalities, Bangladesh logged 41 more deaths, pushing up the death toll to 12,660.
Besides, health authorities detected 1,765 new cases after testing 18,250 samples during the period.
The country’s daily death record remained below 40 since May 25 while it stayed below 50 since May 9.
With the new cases, the total caseload rose to 8,02,305, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily infection rate slightly increased to 9.47 percent from Monday’s 9.41 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58 percent.
The country has so far tested 59,65,763 samples.
Read:Covid: WHO renames UK and other variants with Greek letters
The DGHS handout says 92.50% of the people infected till now have recovered, including 1,779 who tested negative during the period.
Bangladesh reported its first Coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Bangladesh loses 31 more lives to Covid-19
Covid-19 claimed 31 more Covid deaths, including 10 each in Dhaka and Chattogram divisions, in the past 24 hours till Friday morning, pushing up the country's fatalities to 12,511.
Also, 1,358 people came out positive in 14,606 tests carried out during the same period, taking the country's caseload to 796,343.
The daily positivity rate rose to 9.30% from Thursday's 8.12%, said the Directorate General of Health Services.
Read: COVID-19: Bangladesh to receive over 1 lakh Pfizer vaccine on Sunday
The fatality rate remained static at 1.57% and the recovery rate stood at 92.45%.
The country has carried out 5,901,874 sample tests so far after reporting its first cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of the month.
Vaccination drive
The administration of the first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has remained suspended in Bangladesh since April 26.
Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca shots, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India.
However, recently two other vaccines, Russia's Sputnik V and China's Sinopharm, got approval from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) for emergency use in Bangladesh.
Read:Cabinet body okays proposal to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinopharm vaccine
The administering of the first doses of the Sinopharm vaccine started Tuesday.
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses bought from India's Serum Institute.
Bangladesh to receive 1 lakh-plus Pfizer vaccine Sunday
A flight of Qatar Airlines carrying a consignment of 100,620 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh Sunday.
On Thursday, Bangladesh approved the emergency use of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Cabinet body okays procurement of 1.5 crore Sinopharm vaccine
The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase Thursday gave final approval to a proposal of the health ministry to procure 1.5 crore Chinese Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine.
As per the approval, the Health Services Division will procure a 1.5 crore vaccine in the next three months – June, July and August.
Read: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Pfizer vaccine
"Each month 5 million doses of vaccine will be imported from the Chinese firm," Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, told reporters.
Covid vaccination to get priority in budget FY22
A massive vaccination of the population for protection against Covid-19 infection will be the major focus of the Tk602,880 crore budget of the fiscal year 2021-2022. There will be a Tk10,000 crore special allocation for facing the impacts of Covid-19.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will place the budget in Parliament on June 3.
'Bangladesh to see worst Covid outbreak by June-end'
With Covid cases keep soaring in frontier districts apparently because of the highly contagious Indian variant, experts fear that Bangladesh may face the worst outbreak of Covid-19 at the end of June next.
They said if the Indian variant can make its way into other areas from the bordering districts, Bangladesh is likely to witness more than 20,000 daily cases in early July, raising the fatality rate sharply.
Read: Bangladesh braces for worst Covid outbreak by June-end: Experts
Lack of necessary oxygen supply and other healthcare facilities may aggravate the situation, according to the experts.
They suggested putting the frontier districts, particularly where the virus infection rate has already gone up, under strict lockdowns like Chapainawabganj and halting inter-district public transport services to contain the virus locally.
Bangladesh approves emergency use of Pfizer vaccine
The government of Bangladesh has approved the emergency use of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) issued a press release in this regard on Thursday.
This is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine approved for emergency use in Bangladesh.
Recently two other vaccines , Sputnik V produced by Generium Joint Stock Company of Russia, and Sinopharm produced by Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd of China got approval of DGDA for emergency use in Bangladesh.
Earlier on January 7, DGDA approved the emergency use of Covishield vaccine, also known as SARS Cov-2 AZD1222, Oxford/ Astra zeneca vaccine, produced by Serum Institute of India.
Earlier on May 18, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that the country will get at least 106,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine under the Covax facility.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was the first coronavirus jab to show promising results in the latter stages of its testing process.
It is a new type called an mRNA vaccine that uses a tiny fragment of genetic code from the pandemic virus to teach the body how to fight Covid-19 and build immunity, according to a BBC report.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized storage of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at standard refrigerator temperatures for up to one month, in an effort to make the vaccine more widely available.
Bangladesh records lowest Covid deaths in over two months
Bangladesh logged 17 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, the lowest number in 68 days.
The country saw 16 Covid-19 deaths on March 18 last.
Besides, 1,497 new cases were recorded taking the total caseload to 7,93,693, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The Covid-19 positivity rate declined to 9.11 percent from Tuesday’s 10.08 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.57 percent, the handout said.
Health authorities recorded the new cases after testing 16,434 samples in the last 24 hours.
With 1,056 recoveries in the past 24 hours, the country's recovery rate now stands at 92.46.
As of now, 7,33,866 people have recovered from the disease.
Eight of the 17 deaths recorded today are from Chattogram and five are from Dhaka divisions.
Also read: Bangladesh braces for worst Covid outbreak by June-end: Experts
One each died in Khulna, Barishal, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions.
The country so far carried out 58,71,353 sample tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18, 2020.
Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine
Bangladesh on Tuesday began administering the first dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, marking a major turning point in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the inoculation programme at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
On May 12, Bangladesh received 5 lakh China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine doses, donated by the Chinese government.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, China and Bangladesh have been supporting and assisting each other in their fight against the pandemic.
China has donated and is donating vaccine doses to 80 developing countries with urgent needs, and has provided support under COVAX for the emergency use of vaccines in developing countries.
Also read: Process to procure vaccine from China at final stage: FM
China has fulfilled its commitment to make the Covid-19 vaccine a global public good with practical actions, promoted the fair distribution of global vaccines and made China’s contribution to the realisation of vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
China says it will continue to make joint efforts with Bangladesh to make positive contributions to Bangladesh’s endeavour of protecting human lives and fight to win the battle against the pandemic, and together to build an even closer community of shared future and health for mankind.
Another cyclone coming, alerts PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged all to remain alert as cyclone ‘Yaas’ may hit Bangladesh in a couple of days.
"Another cyclone is coming, it’s just forming now (in the bay)," she said.
The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating as well as laying the foundation stones of 225 facilities of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry.
Read:Cyclone Yash: Thrice the usual number of shelters being prepared due to Covid
The programme was held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium and the Prime Minister joined it virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Of the total facilities, 110 are Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters, 30 Flood Shelters, 30 District Relief and Disaster Management Information Centers and 5 Mujib Killas.
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of 50 Mujib Killas across the country.
Sheikh Hasina said: "We’ve already started taking adequate precautionary measures [to face the cyclone]. Inshallah, we’ll remain cautious, we’ll be able to reduce risks."
According to the meteorological office, a low-pressure area is brewing over the north Andaman Sea and the adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal, which could intensify into a cyclonic storm.
The storm is then likely to move north-westwards and reach the Odisha-West Bengal-Khulna coast around May 26 (Wednesday), according to the weather department.
Read:PM to inaugurate 140 cyclone and flood centres on Sunday, says minister
Meanwhile, the government has prepared cyclone centres three times more than what was required in compliance with health guidelines, keeping in mind the coronavirus situation, to provide shelter to coastal people if Cyclone Yaas hits Bangladesh.
The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has to face various types of natural calamities like cyclone and flood due to its geographical location. "Sometimes manmade disasters also hit Bangladesh. We’ve to move on tackling all this. We’re moving one and we’ll keep on moving.”
Hasina said the government had taken numerous steps to face difficulties during every calamity and put emphasis on averting any possible loss of human lives.
Regarding deaths in thunderbolt strikes, the Prime Minister said once people used to plant palm-trees near their houses and that saved human lives naturally from thunderbolts.
"Once people had forgotten that. Now that sense of necessity (planting palm trees) has returned," she said, mentioning that the government has taken all-out efforts to save people from any calamity.
Read: Cyclone brewing over Andaman Sea 'may hit Bangladesh coast'
Talking about the future generations, she said the government has taken the Delta Plan 2100 to make Bangladesh a developed country from the developing one.
A video on the contributions of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also screened at the programme.
State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Mohammad Enamur Rahman, Secretary of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry Mohammad Mohsin also spoke at the programme.
3,350 Bangladeshis return through Benapole since Apr 26; 17 test Covid positive
Despite travel restrictions and locked borders, 3,350 Bangladeshis returned through Benapole land port since April 26.
Seventeen of these India returnees have tested positive for Covid-19, said Benapole immigration officials.
Utpal Roy, medical officer of Benapole immigration health department, said people returning from India are being sent to 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Those who are already infected or getting infected later are being sent to the red zone of Jashore General Hospital’s Corona Unit, said the medical officer.
Benapole port immigration sources said most of the returnees went to India for treatment and are returning with special permission from the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata.
Some of the returnees said Bangladeshis would not have gone to India for treatment if our health service was developed enough.
Officer-in-Charge of Benapole immigration check post Ahsan Habib said everyday Bangladeshis are returning from India with NOC and Indians stuck in Bangladesh are following the same procedure.
Bangladesh’s border with India has remained shut since April 26 as the number of cases soared in the neighbouring country. But the movement of cargoes has remained unaffected.
Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment and having visas with validity for less than 15 days are allowed to enter Bangladesh through only Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari land ports after taking permission from Bangladesh Missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with Covid-negative certificates.