Covid-19 lockdown
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Bangladesh reported 45 more Coronavirus related deaths with 1285 new cases in 24 hours until Saturday morning amid concern after the detection of first case of highly contagious Indian Coronavirus strain in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,878 while the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent.
Besides, the DGHS said, 1,285 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 14,703 samples, taking the total case count to 772,127.
Also, the country's infection rate fell to 8.74%, which was 9.89% 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: Bangladesh detects 1st case of Indian Coronavirus strain
According to the DGHS, 2,492 infected people recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.54%.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,613 ,979 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Dhaka, worst hit region as death toll nears 7,000
Dhaka remained the worst hit region by the virus, recording 6,900 fatalities or 58.09% of the total deaths until now.
Twenty-one of the 45 virus related deaths recorded today are from Dhaka and 13 are from Chattogram.
Indian Coronavirus strain detected
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, confirmed Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR).
The Indian strain of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
The new strain was detected in samples collected from recent India returnee passengers in Bangladesh.
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh.
Into the third week of extended lockdown
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday. However, launch and train services will remain off.
Also read: New Covid-19 strain found in 10 EU returnees: Maleque
Amid a mad rush of home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Banglabazar routes have been suspended today to curb the spread of Covid-19.
However, vessels carrying patients and goods will be allowed to cross the rivers, said BIWTC public relations officer Nazrul Islam.
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.
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.
Dwindling vaccine stock
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."
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Vaccine expected from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the USA as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Vaccine production
With India slapping a ban on the export of AstraZeneca vaccines made by its Serum Institute, Bangladesh is trying to get technology from Russia and China to produce their vaccines locally.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
"We'll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as a gift within 7-10 days. Then the government will start buying those on a G2G basis," Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration told reporters.
Covid’s daily deaths in Bangladesh drop to 37
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."
Mall crowds may bring back Covid nightmare, warns minister
Voicing concerns over huge crowds at shopping malls violating health safety rules, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday warned that the coronavirus transmission may spike again if this trend continues till Eid-ul-Fitr.
“The government has allowed reopening shops and shopping malls on the occasion of eid, but the crowds we’re seeing there will surely contribute to the virus surge again,” he said.
The minister said, “What if you don’t buy clothes for an Eid? The government has reopened markets, but it’s up to us whether to go or not there. Many women go shopping with children without wearing masks. Though we’ve given various instructions in this regard, people aren’t maintaining the health safety rules accordingly.”
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, he said people must cooperate with the government in containing the virus by maintaining health safety rules, physical distancing and wearing masks.
Describing lockdown as the most effective way of controlling coronavirus transmission, he said the ongoing lockdown has helped reduce the coronavirus infections and death rates in the country. “But lockdown is not a long-term solution as it affects the economy and the livelihoods of people.”
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
The minister said the government resumed bus services in the capital and districts due to pressure from various quarters.
Zahid Maleque said the coronavirus infection came under control early this year, but the second wave of the virus has created due to people’s reckless attitude, travelling spree, mass gathering, and apathy to the health safety rules.
“We forget the past and didn’t take a lesson from it. We should keep in mind how people are suffering and dying due to the oxygen crisis in India. So, we should keep our country well by following the health safety guidelines,” he said.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
Amid the declining trend in Covid-19 infections and fatalities after an alarming surge in April, Bangladesh registered 41 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Thursday, pushing up the total fatalities to 11,796.
This is the lowest number of Covid deaths in the country after March 28 this year. Bangladesh saw 35 deaths on March 28.
However, 1,822 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 21,585 samples.
The mortality rate remained static at 1.53 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout.
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month on Wednesday as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Manwhile, the daily infection rate fell to 8.44 percent from Wednesday’s 8.59 percent, according to the data provided by DGHS.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,69,160.
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
Until now, the country has tested 55,82,263 samples.
In the last 24 hours, 3,698 patients recovered from Covid-19, putting the recovery rate at 91.29 %.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year, before confirming the first death 10 days later.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
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.
The administering of the first dose and new registration for Covid-19 jab has remained suspended since April 26.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister
In the last 24 hours, 43 people have received the first dose and 102,915 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 33,13,424 people managed to complete their second dose.
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we’ve some 14 lakh doses in stock.”
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM
Vaccine production
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Sputnik V vaccine of Russia.
“We’ll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as gift within 7-10 days. Then we’ll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on G2G basis,” Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA told reporters.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
Lockdown extended until May 16
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Also read: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Bangladesh recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death figure, the mortality from the Coronavirus rose to 11,755, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new cases during the period.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,67,338.
However, the infection rate fell to 8.59 percent from Tuesday’s 8.71 percent while the fatality rate remained static at 1.53 percent.
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.
In the last 24 hours, 427 labs across the country tested 20,284 samples.
Among the recent deaths, 32 were men while 18 were women.
Besides 3,433 patients recovered from Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.02%.
Also Read: Serum to return money if fails to provide vaccine: Finance Minister
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
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.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended since April 26, and no one in the country has received the second dose in the last 48 hours.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
In the last 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 31,06709 people managed to complete their second dose.
Also Read: Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we’ve some 14 lakh doses in stock.”
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Also Read: New variant may be behind Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Lockdown extended
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Extended lockdown extends daily bottlenecks for commuters
Bangladesh has entered the third week of lockdown in its effort to put a leash on the surge of Covid-19's second wave.
The deadliest month of pandemic, April, has just passed recording 21% of the total deaths since the outbreak last year.
The onslaught hasn’t stopped yet, as 61 more deaths were logged today.
With the lockdown imposed and extended, all the public transport services remained restricted across the city.
Distressed by the decision, Dhaka dwellers were seen resorting to sharing autorickshaw fares with other passengers, even more than usual, to reach their destination.
However this situation brought the drivers an opportunity to demand extra fares from the passengers.
A UNB photographer has captured these photos of troubled passengers defying health rules, from city’s Notun Bazar, Nodda area today.
Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts say lockdown likely to pay off
Experts think that the ongoing lockdown in Bangladesh appears to be paying off as both the active coronavirus cases and death toll have marked a sharp fall over the last few days in the country.
They, however, fear that the benefits might be short-lived ones as the government has allowed shopping malls to reopen and is thinking of resuming public transport services soon though the virus is yet to come under control.
The analysts warned that the Covid situation is likely to worsen again with the hordes of shoppers and holidaymakers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the largest religious festivals of Muslims to be celebrated in the middle of this month.
They advised the government to announce a stimulus package for the transport workers instead of resuming transport service, enforce the law to make people to wear masks and maintain health safety rules and increase vigilance along the border to check any possible trespassing or illegal entry to Bangladesh from India to maintain the improved trend in the Covid situation.
The government imposed a complete countrywide lockdown on April 14 for a week to tackle the worsening Covid situation, and later it was extended up to May 5. But the government gave permission for reopening shops and malls across the country from April 25 amid lockdown.
Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Saturday the government is considering the resumption of public transport services in the country ahead of Eid.
Bangladesh’s health authorities reported 69 more deaths and 1,359 new cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The virus infection rate that increased to 23 percent early last month has now dropped to 9.60 percent on Sunday.
Lockdown proves to be effective
Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director (disease control) of the DGHS, said the fall in the number of Covid cases and deaths has manifested that the ongoing lockdown has proved to be good.
“As the offices and mass transport service remains shut, people’s movement has declined, contributing to reducing the virus transmission,” he said
Bail, Ad-interim orders extended for 4 weeks: HC
Bail and all High Court ad-interim orders have been extended for the next four weeks, considering the lockdown and ongoing Covid situation.
Registrar general of the Supreme Court Md Ali Akbar issued a notice in this regard on Sunday.
The notice says the four week-extension will be effective on cases the High Court granted bail to the accused for a specific period or granted bail on condition of surrendering to a lower court or declared ad-interim order for a period.
On April 5 and April 18, through two different notices the Supreme Court has extended all ad-interim bails and orders for two weeks, twice.
On April 11, the Supreme Court declared on a notice that, from April 12 all the court and tribunals will be conducted virtually to settle all the bail and emergency criminal applications.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The health authorities reported 69 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 11,569, as Bangladesh grapples to tackle the second wave of the pandemic.
Besides, 1,359 new cases were detected after examining 14,158 samples, the lowest number of tests since April 18, according to government data.
The health authorities have so far tested 5,498,979 samples. There has been a steady decline in the number of tests since April 28. New cases have been on the wane since April 26 but fell dramatically since April 28, data available on corona.gov.bd show.
However, the daily infection rate fell to 9.6 percent from Saturday’s 9.61 percent while the fatality rate rose to 1.52 percent from 1.51 percent a day before, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the new cases, the country’s total Covid-19 caseload now stands at 761,943, the DGHS handout said.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 that year.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 77 deaths, new cases 2,955
60 more die in Bangladesh as Covid continues its onslaught
The death toll from Covid-19 hit 11,510 in Bangladesh on Saturday as the country logged 60 more fatalities in 24 hours until Saturday morning, as all efforts to stop the pandemic have apparently gone in vain.
However, the country reported new cases of 1,452 during the 24-hour period ending at 8am, which was said to the lowest daily count in 48 days.
The overall infection tally reached 760,584 with the new cases and the positivity rate fell to 9.61% from Friday's 10.34%. But the death rate remained unchanged at 1.51%, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
On March 14, Bangladesh reported 1,159 cases in 24 hours. The country's infection rate came down below 10% on Thursday after over a month, as it reported a 7.68% infection rate on March 17 and it rose to 10.45% the following day. Since then, the infection rate began an upward march.
Bangladesh on Friday reported its single-day Covid-19 death toll of 57, the lowest in 25 days.
According to the DGHS, 684,671 infected people have recovered from the disease so far and 3,245 of them in the past 24 hours.
The country conducted 15,117 new tests over the same period, which was 21,046 on Friday.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 548,4821 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year the first death on the 18th of that month.
The country recorded 52 coronavirus-related deaths on April 5, 78 on April 27, and 77 on April 28, showing a downtrend. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases top 151 million
April remains cruel
April still remains to be the cruel month for Bangladesh since the outbreak of the pandemic last year as 147,837 cases of infections and over 2,404 deaths were officially registered.
As the virus continues its onslaught, 568 people lost their lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,714 or 58.33%.
Twenty-eight of the 60 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 19 from Chattogram division.
Lockdown to continue until May 5
Given the surge in new infections and deaths from the virus, the government enforced a nationwide lockdown in early April. Having failed to contain the current surge, the government imposed a strict lockdown on April 11 and then extended it up to April 28.
Also read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 5
On Wednesday, the government issued a circular extending the lockdown up to May 5, as there is no improvement in a spike in Covid-19 infections.