Chattogram district administration has announced an eight-day lockdown in Fatikchhari upazila from June 23 to June 30. The decision was taken at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Upazila’s Covid-19 infection rate was on the rise. According to the District Civil Surgeon's Office, in the past one week 196 Covid-19- infected patients were identified in Fatikchhari. Chattogram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Mohammad Mominur Rahman said the lockdown will be imposed from tomorrow till June 30. During the lockdown, all businesses including shops, hotels, restaurants and community centers would remain open from 7 am to 11 am in the morning and from 3 pm to 6 pm in the afternoon. However, drug stores and kitchen markets would be open as usual. All kinds of public gatherings including social, cultural, and religious ceremonies were prohibited until further notice. Upazila Health Officer Nabil Chowdhury said that the infection rate in the upazila increased over the past two weeks. However, there are no patients in critical condition, he said.

Bangladesh on Friday reported the deaths of 37 more people, including 14 women, from Coronavirus, the lowest since March 28. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,833 and the mortality rate to 1.54 %. Besides, the DGHS said, 1,682 new cases were detected during the period following the test of 17,013 samples, taking the total case count to 770,842. "The number of deaths, recorded so far, is lower compared to the number of positive cases. This warrants conduction of genomic sequencing to see if any new but less virulent variant is in the offing," Dr AM Zakir Hussain, former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, told UNB. Also, the country's infection rate rose to 9.89%, which was 8.44% a day ago, according to the DGHS. The number of Covid deaths came down to as low as 50 after over a month on Wednesday as Bangladesh saw 50 deaths earlier on April 1 and it had kept rising since then. The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then. Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Around 21 pc of total deaths reported in April alone According to the DGHS, 2,178 infected people recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.37%. Bangladesh has so far carried out 559,9276 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year, the first death on the 18th of that month.  Vaccination drive  Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.  Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain. India has tried to ward off its Covid crisis by ramping up its production of vaccines and banning their export, cutting off supplies to neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal as they struggle with infection surges. The administering of the first dose has remained suspended in Bangladesh since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India. However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May. Also read: Mall crowds may bring back Covid nightmare, warns minister Dwindling vaccine stock India's shortage of shots has its global implications because, in addition to its vaccination efforts, the country promised to ship out vaccines abroad as part of a United Nations vaccine-sharing programme that is dependent on its supply. The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs left with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India. DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, "We had around 1 crore and 2 lakh doses. Around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we've some 14 lakh doses in stock."

Low income earners specially rickshawpullers and drivers of three wheelers have been passing an anxious time as the government on Monday announced a fresh countrywide lockdown from April 22.  They have been living hand to mouth as their income has decreased following a countrywide strict lockdown began from April 14, they said. Though countrywide strict restrictions have been enforced for the sixth consecutive day on Monday, large number of rickshaws and three wheelers were seen plying the city streets alongside other private vehicles. Also read: Auto-rickshaw, light vehicle workers demand food, financial support from govt in lockdown Police were seen stopping vehicles setting up a number of checkposts at different points of the streets.  Visiting Mirpur Road, Banani, Mohakhali and Badda Progoti Sarani Road, the same picture of anxious rickshaws and auto-rickshaw was seen in the city. Rickshawpullers have been running on the main streets defying police obstruction as they do not get sufficient passengers in their respective locality. Bulbul, a 30-year-old rickshaw-puller, was waiting for passengers near bus stand of Merul  Badda. When asked about his daily income during current strict lockdown, he said he could earn Tk 600-700 daily before the current strict lockdown began from April 14. But now he has been earning only Tk 200-300 daily. "As a large number of people are staying home due to the lockdown, I have to ply rickshaw on the main streets but do not get sufficient passengers," he said.  

Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning. It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in a 24-hour period. The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services. Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily. With fewer tests, the number of new cases remained low at 3,698 but the infection rate was at 19.06 percent, down from 21.46 percent on Saturday. On Sunday, 19,404 samples were tested. The number was 34,630 on April 7 when the country recorded its highest single-day cases of 7,626. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year. The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far. Deadliest weeks April has been the most devastating month so far, with 1,339 deaths and 104,182 new cases. More people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 20 days than in the last 10 months. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. Also read: South Asia fast becoming new global epicentre of Covid-19: IFRC Last year’s months-long ‘general holiday’ helped curb the virus’ transmission and keep the fatalities low but people have since shown reluctance to adhere to health rules. The lackadaisical attitude has been blamed for the worsening coronavirus situation.

Bangladesh’s daily Covid-19 infection rate fell slightly to 9.39 percent on Saturday from 10.04 percent a day earlier.

Bangladesh recorded 10 more Coronavirus related deaths and 540 new cases in the last 24 hours till Saturday morning, showing a slight fall in daily infection rate.

Eight more Covid-19-related deaths and 585 new cases were reported in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, showing a substantial rise in its daily infection rate.

Covid-19 claimed seven more lives and infected another 366 people in Bangladesh in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, showing a slight rise in infection rate than that of Sunday.

Bangladesh saw a decline in Covid-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours until Friday morning but the daily infection rate jumped slightly.

In its latest update on the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that although the number of gobal infections has fallen by 16 per cent in a week – 500,000 fewer cases – regions, including Europe, are still in the grip of the virus whose variants are spreading, reports UN NEWS.