The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal of the Health Service Division to import Sinofarm Covid-19 vaccine. Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary to the Cabinet Division, disclosed this while briefing reporters after a meeting of the committee.  She, however, did not provide any detail about the price of the Chinese vaccine and its quantity. “It’s just an approval made in principle. Details of the proposal will be known when it’ll come again for approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.”  Dr Shahida said the proposal was instantly placed on the table during the virtual meeting. She said the CCEA approved another proposal of the Health Service Division to import 40 Oxygen generators to be used for the treatment of Covid patients. Also read: Dhaka requests Delhi to send vaccine to Bangladesh soon The Central Medicine Store Department (CMSD) will import the oxygen generators. Another proposal made by the Industries Ministry received approval of the CCEA to sign a contract for the import of 1.28 million metric tons of fertiliser from three countries for the fiscal year 2021-2022. Of the bulk fertiliser, 500,000 mt will be imported from Muntajar Qatar, 500,000 mt from Sabic of Saudi Arabia and 250,000 mt from Fertiglbe of the UAE. Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPP) approved nine proposals, including the import of LNG and awarding a contract for installing a 400MW power plant to a Chinese contractor. As per the proposal, state-owned Petrobangla will import 3.360 million MMBtu of (liquified natural gas) LNG from AOT Trading of Switzerland at a cost of Tk 340.62 crore -- $10.199 per unit. Also read: Bangladesh to get 106,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine on June 2: Health Ministry State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will award an EPC contract to Chinese contractor SEPCO-III Electric Power Construction Company Ltd, at a cost of Tk 1,796.72 crore to set up a 400MW gas-fired power plant at Raozan Power Station in Chattogram. The plant will be installed replacing the existing one. A proposal of the Bangladesh Police received approval of the committee to award a contract Joint Venture of (1) Smart Technologies (BD) Ltd, Dhaka and (2) Digicon Technologies Ltd, Dhaka to introduce surveillance systems on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. Under the contract, the contractor will set up CCTV monitoring systems and other infrastructure on the highway. Two other proposals of the Directorate General of Food (DGF) received approval of the CCPP. Also read: Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada The DGF will award a Tk 261.70 contract to the Joint Venture of (1) Beximco Computers Limited, Bangladesh, (2) Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd. Bangladesh, (3) Tech Mahindra Ltd. India, and (4) Tech Valley Networks Ltd. Bangladesh to install software, set up data centres and monitoring systems at all the food storehouses across the country under the package No-GD-27 of the “Modern Food Storage Facilities (MFSP)” project. The DGF will award another contract of Tk 330.86 crore under the package No-W-21 of the same project to Joint Venture of (1) Confidence Infrastructure Limited, Bangladesh and (2) The GSI Group LLC, USA to set up a food steel silo for rice at Barisal. Payra Port Authority’s tender proposal to award a Tk 5,629.18 crore contract to Jan De Nul (JDN), a Belgium-based dredging company, to conduct capital dredging and maintenance at the Rabonabad channel of the Payra Port received approval of the committee. Another proposal of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Shipping Ministry received approval of the CCPP to award a contract to Karnaphuli Ship Builders Ltd., to construct and supply four coastal passenger vessels at a cost of Tk 230.95 crore.

A writ petition was filed with the High Court on Sunday seeking its directives to the Ministry of Health to implement the 25-point recommendation of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) after identifying 11 areas of corruption in the Health Service Division.

Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), been made the additional director general (planning and development) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Embattled Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Abul Kalam Azad has resigned amid criticisms over irregularities and mismanagement in the health sector.

In an effort to avoid unnecessary tests of Covid-19, the government has fixed the coronavirus test fee on Monday.