coronavirus situation
Bangladesh reports 197 new deaths as it fails to take hold on Covid
Bangladesh added 197 fatalities to its national tally on Friday as horrific Covid hospitalisations and deaths continue to soar.
The country is averaging 200-plus single-day fatalities for the last three weeks. After weathering the first wave of the virus, Bangladesh is now yet to see any tangible signs that it is turning the corner.
However, the country is now reporting 10,602 new cases on average each day – 73% of the peak.
Bangladesh recorded 8,465 new cases Friday after testing 40,641 samples, down from 12,606 logged a week earlier on August 6.
The country reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality number – 264 – on August 5 and 10, and 16,230 infections on July 28.
Read: Dhaka to receive 10 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses shortly
Bangladesh has been experiencing a surge of Covid-related caseloads and deaths since June 2021.
The link between the COVID-19 vaccine and pregnancy
Earlier this week we reported the government has decided to include pregnant and lactating women in the nationwide Covid-19 inoculation programme amid a worrying rise in Covid-19 hospital admissions across the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) issued a notice regarding this Sunday. Although the pregnant women are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, they must follow some instructions before getting vaccinated, according to the DGHS.
They have to take the Covid shots from government vaccination centres with medical facilities after getting counselling from a registered physician there.
Read: Pregnant woman with Covid-19 unlikely to pass infection to newborns: Study
Pregnant women, who are unwell or suffering from chronic illness or have a history of vaccine allergy, will not be allowed to take the jabs.
Medical experts say there’s no biological reason the shots would affect fertility. And the AP reports real-world evidence offers more assurance for anyone worried about their chances of conceiving: In Pfizer’s study, a similar number of women became pregnant in the group given the vaccine as in the group given dummy shots.
Researchers are starting to study anecdotal reports of short-term changes to periods after the vaccine, but there’s no indication so far that the shots put fertility at risk, said Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a gynecologist and professor at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Read: Pregnant, lactating women to get Covid jab: DGHS
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and obstetrician groups also recommend COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant individuals, who have a higher risk of severe illness if infected with the coronavirus. Research shows pregnant people who get the virus are more likely to be admitted to intensive care, receive invasive ventilation and die than their non-pregnant peers.
The CDC also followed tens of thousands of pregnant women who got the vaccines and found they had comparable pregnancy outcomes to pregnant women before the pandemic.
So whether you are thinking about having a baby, trying to conceive or undergoing fertility treatments, you should not delay vaccination, Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of the department of gynaecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told AP.
Vaccination: UNHCR lauds Bangladesh for inclusion of Rohingyas
UNHCR has welcomed the commencement of the vaccination of Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar in line with national authorities’ broader public health efforts.
"We are grateful to the Government of Bangladesh for having included Rohingya refugees in the vaccination campaign," said Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh, on Wednesday.
The UN refugee agency said equitable inclusion of Rohingyas in allocation of vaccines is critical to curbing the spread of the ongoing pandemic.
"The Rohingya refugee and host community volunteers have an essential frontline role in containing the spread of COVID-19 in the camps. The first step in fully protecting communities; however, is through the rollout of vaccination," UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh emphasized.
On Tuesday, over 4,000 Rohingyas received their first COVID-19 vaccine, as part of a national vaccination drive to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
Read: Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain takes hold
Rohingyas eligible for vaccination in the first cohort include some 48,000 individuals over 55 years of age. The drive will continue until August 17.
The vaccination drive for Rohingyas is being led by the Bangladesh authorities with technical support from the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization and other humanitarian partners.
The fight against the pandemic has been led by thousands of refugee and host community volunteers, who have worked since 2020 on informing refugees about health and hygiene, monitoring any signs of illness, and connecting the refugee community with critical health services.
While the threat of COVID-19 remains critical, their efforts have helped to prevent and curb outbreaks and have saved lives, said the UN agency.
The vaccinations follow the devastating monsoon rains that hit Cox’s Bazar District over the past weeks, causing flash floods and landslides which killed eight Rohingya refugees and 15 Bangladeshis in the host communities.
Read: Vaccination drive in Bangladesh: Procurement of 60 mln Sinopharm doses gets nod
Almost 25,000 refugees were displaced due to landslides, flooding, wind and storms.
Thousands of facilities have been damaged including primary health clinics, distribution points and latrines.
Access was hindered due to damage to roads, pathways and bridges.
UNHCR’s Emergency Response Teams, and partners, refugee and host community volunteers were deployed to assess the damage, to provide support to families forced to relocate, to begin immediate repairs of shelters and other site improvements and to ensure access to essential services for all.
While the weather has improved over the last few days, the monsoon season will continue for another couple of months followed by the cyclone season.
Frustration grows as chaos continues at Bangladesh’s vaccination centres
Vaccination centres across the country drew huge crowds on the 5th day of the mass vaccination drive, creating a chaotic situation everywhere and raising the risk of the virus transmission.
After a reality check at different vaccination centers, UNB correspondents saw long queues of people standing close to each other with little or no regard to social distancing rules.
Hundreds of jab-seekers, both male and female, turned up at the small vaccination centres with or without online registrations, overwhelming its medical staff.
The medical staff at the vaccination centres and the vaccine aspirants pointed fingers at each other because of mismanagement and slow pace of vaccination.
According to the UNB correspondents, the number of staff was too inadequate to smoothly vaccinate such a huge number of people.
As the ruthless Delta variant of Covid-19 keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh on Saturday kicked off another phase of its mass vaccination drive aimed at inoculating 35 lakh people in six days.
However, the drive has not been free of controversies as mismanagement and anomalies across the country became a topic of discussions in the last few days.
Even on the very first day of the drive, UNB reported about the chaotic situation which arose at the city’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital.
Nearly 4,000 vaccine seekers, including men and women, were seen waiting in queues in the corridors of its first and second floors with the vaccination going on at a snail’s pace.
Read: Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain takes hold
Outraged by the “mismanagement”, the vaccine seekers said the situation turned worse as there was no arrangement for women to stand in any separate queue.
Tired of the long wait in the queue, the irate crowds got involved in quarrels with Ansar personnel and the hospital staff.
Some of them were seen trying to push each other to enter the vaccination rooms venting their anger amid chaos.
Inside the vaccination rooms, it was found that only two to three nurses were providing shots while another two or three medical staff were checking vaccination registration papers. They had to struggle a lot to cope with the situation for lack of manpower.
Intercity, freight trains also to operate from Aug 11: Ministry
The Ministry of Railways has decided to operate 38 pairs of intercity and 20 commuter/freight trains from August 11 following the government’s announcement to ease the ongoing lockdown.
The ministry in a circular on Sunday said it has decided to operate passenger trains on all of its routes with a few exceptions following health guidelines until further directive.
The ministry, however, said intercity trains Ekta Express, Sundarban Express, Nilsagar Express and Rangpur Express will not operate from Dhaka on August 11, while Tongipara Express will not operate from Gobra.
Read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow
It said 50% tickets of intercity trains will be sold online and through mobile apps while the remaining 50% will be sold from Monday 8 am.
In the case of any negligence in maintaining health rules while operating the trains, legal action will be taken against the authorities concerned, the ministry said.
The movement of passenger trains has remained suspended across the country since July 23 after the government re-imposed the stringent lockdown amid a massive surge of Covid cases.
Read: Lockdown or no lockdown, life is the same in Dhaka
The passenger trains were allowed to move for eight days from July 15-22 across the country keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Division issued a circular saying that the government has decided to allow all public transport to operate at full capacity across Bangladesh from August 11.
Lockdown breaches: 241 arrested in Dhaka on day 17
Police arrested 241 more people in Dhaka on Sunday for violating lockdown restrictions on the 17th day of the countrywide lockdown aimed at reducing the Covid-19 spread.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for being out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 37,450 in fines from 84 people.
Read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow
Also, the Traffic Division collected Tk 12,18,000 as penalties from 537 vehicles for violating lockdown restrictions.
The number of vehicles and people on the city’s streets were comparatively higher on Sunday than the previous day.
The movement of people and vehicles increased significantly on the 17th day of lockdown on as many people are coming out of their houses for various reasons.
Read: Lockdown or no lockdown, life is the same in Dhaka
Some people are going outside for vaccination as mass vaccination programme began in the country on Saturday while many more for other reasons as export-oriented factories were opened on August 1.
It is only the shopping malls and eateries that remained closed and public transport stayed off roads as per lockdown rules.
Saudi Arabia opens Umrah pilgrimage to vaccinated worshipers from abroad
After about a year and a half of not receiving overseas worshippers due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia will gradually begin receiving Umrah pilgrimage requests from abroad for vaccinated pilgrims starting Monday.
With a capacity that would rise to 2 million pilgrims from 60,000 pilgrims per month, Islam's two holiest sites Mecca and Medina will start welcoming visitors from abroad to their mosques while maintaining Covid-19 precautionary measures, Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday.
Domestic and overseas pilgrims will have to submit authorised Covid-19 vaccination certificates along with their Umrah request, an official of the Hajj and Umrah ministry said.
Vaccinated pilgrims from countries, which are on Saudi Arabia's entry-ban list, will have to undergo institutional quarantine upon arrival, the official added.
On July 25, Saudi Arabia said it would allow pilgrims living outside the country to undertake the Umrah pilgrimage starting August 10.
Read: International Umrah pilgrimage resumes on August 10
However, Umrah for Saudi citizens and residents in the Kingdom restarted that day.
In early July, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah stopped receiving applications for Umrah to prepare for Hajj, which began on the 17th of the month.
As Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of Umrah service for pilgrims worldwide from 1st Muharram 1443 after the end of the Hajj season, all countries were allowed to send direct flights except for nine.
Pilgrims from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon would need to undergo a quarantine of 14 days in a third country before arriving in the Kingdom, the authorities said.
Read: Pilgrims return to Mecca for ‘umrah’ after 7 months
Also, it was made mandatory to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with complete doses of either Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or J&J; complete doses of China's vaccines with a booster shot of either Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or J&J.
Umrah is a voluntary Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina undertaken any time of the year. In February last year, it was suspended over fears of the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, the Kingdom reopened Muslim holy sites for Umrah after a six-month pause in October same year for domestic worshippers.
11 billion-plus doses needed to vaccinate 70% people: Guterres
More than 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate 70% of the global population – a key threshold to ending the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN chief said Thursday.
This will take the largest public health effort in history, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said while addressing the first International Forum on Covid-19 Vaccine Cooperation in China through a video message.
The global pandemic has already claimed more than 4 million lives. Against this backdrop, Guterres underscored that the world needs a Global Vaccine Plan to at least double vaccine production and ensure equitable distribution, using COVAX as a platform.
"We also need an Emergency Task Force – at the G20 level – to coordinate its implementation," he said.
Read: Moderna says vaccine 93% effective but seeks 3rd-shot in fall
Although the remarkable and rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines offers "great hope" that the devastating pandemic can be overcome, everyone must be reached everywhere, "as quickly as possible," the UN chief said.
To double the manufacturing capacity, a much greater sharing of technology and know-how will be needed.
It will also require strengthening and building local production capacities around the world and addressing supply chain bottlenecks, according to the UN chief.
"This is a matter of fairness and justice – but it is also critical to avoid the emergence of further variants that can resist the current vaccines and undermine national vaccination efforts," he said.
Read: Bangladesh to procure 6 crore Sinopharm vaccine doses: Minister
The UN chief welcomed agreements signed last month with the UN-led equitable vaccine distribution initiative, COVAX, for the provision of Chinese-developed Sinopharm and Sinovac shots, saying the deal unlocked potential supplies of more than 500 million doses.
Also, the top UN official described the first meeting of the International Vaccine Forum as "a critical opportunity to bring together countries with vaccine production capacities, pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers to advance global cooperation on vaccines."
Bangladesh reports 248 more deaths as Delta variant keeps lashing
As the ruthless Delta variant keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh added 248 fatalities to its national tally Friday, up from 212 logged a week earlier.
The country has been reporting over 200 single-day fatalities for the last two weeks as it races to head off a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the unrelenting Delta variant.
After weathering the first wave of the virus, Bangladesh's health services are now stretched dangerously thin.
The Covid-19 infections are on the upswing, with 13,771 – 95% of the peak – new cases reported on average each day.
Bangladesh recorded 12,606 new cases on Friday after testing 48,015 samples, down from 13,862 logged a week earlier on July 30.
Read: Bangladesh ready to kick off massive vaccination drive Saturday: DGHS DG
The country reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 264 on August 5 and 16,230 infections on July 28.
No movement without vaccine will be allowed after Aug. 11: Minister
Taking Covid jabs has been made mandatory for public movement from Aug. 11, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said on Tuesday urging people to get vaccinated to avoid punishment.
The minister said this while talking to reporters about the government decision of extending the ongoing lockdown till August 10.
He said, “It has been made mandatory to take Covid jabs for public movement from August 11.
Read: BMRC clears Indian Covaxin’s clinical trials in Bangladesh
Any movement without being vaccinated would be considered a punishable offense.”
As per the government decision of reopening workplaces, local shops, factories and retail outlets along with public transports from August 11, people who didn’t get Covid jabs yet were instructed to get vaccinated within the remaining days of extended lockdown.
Read: Vaccine coproduction deal with Sinopharm ready for signing: FM
The government is set to launch a nationwide mass vaccination drive from 14,000 vaccine centres from August 7 aimed at giving shots to one crore people in one week. Once vaccinated, the certificate will be available to download on the website and it will work as the movement pass for people, he said.
The minister warned further that anyone over the age of 18 without a vaccine found on the street after the lockdown ends will face punishment.