Even though Bangladesh logged 15,61,463 Covid-19 cases as of Friday, experts believe around 70 percent population of the country may have contracted the virus and developed natural antibodies. Some experts think that the country is close to reaching the herd immunity threshold while some others say a comprehensive serosurveillance report is necessary to reach a conclusion over it. They all, however, viewed that it is necessary to inoculate around 70-80 percent of people of the country to attain herd protection against the Coronavirus as any virulent new variant like Delta can emerge and dodge people’s natural immune protection. Read Kindergartens in Chandpur struggle to recover from Covid-19 shocks, many stay closed  Herd immunity is a concept based on the body's immune resistance to the spread of a deadly disease (bacterial or viral infection) and it can be obtained in two ways -- naturally through infections of the majority of the population and artificially through vaccinating around 80 percent of the population of a country. Official data on infection, vaccination As per the data of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Bangladesh reported 15,61,463 cases till Friday while the positivity rate was 2.77. The daily-case positivity rate in the country remained below 5 percent for over last two weeks. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), a total of 35,829,418 people received the first dose of vaccines while 17,795,120 ones both doses as of October 7. The country has so far collected 64,568,420 doses AstraZeneca , Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines. Read DU to collaborate with AFC Biotech to develop Covid-19 vaccine Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said around five crore people have already been vaccinated while 50 percent will be brought under the vaccination by December next. He said they also have a plan to vaccinate 70-80 percent people of the country by March next year. Debate over antibody, herd immunity Based on some studies on samples collected from both symptomatic and asymptomatic Covid positive individuals, Ramon Magsaysay Award-winning Bangladeshi scientist Dr Firdausi Qadri said 60-70 percent people of Bangladesh have gained some types of antibodies against Covid-19. Read: Bangladesh unlikely to reach Covid herd immunity anytime soon: Expert

Achieving herd immunity through a massive vaccination drive can be the best option for Bangladesh to get rid of the deadly Coronavirus as all the steps, including the lockdown, have failed to slow down its upsurge in the country, experts said. Though many people are believed to have developed antibodies through infections, Bangladesh is not on its way to achieving herd immunity as Covid’s new variants like South African one can dodge people’s that type of immune protection, according to the experts. Read After Coronavirus: Police adopts yoga for enhanced immunity to disease They think the government should focus mainly on collecting at least 25 crore doses of the vaccine from different sources to attain herd immunity. They also said though some studies have raised questions about the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against the South African variant, most studies suggest it can at least reduce the mortality and morbidity rates. Herd immunity is a concept based on the body's immune resistance to the spread of a deadly disease or virus and it can be attained in two ways -- naturally or through infections of the majority population and artificially or through vaccinating at least 70% of the population of a country. Read Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others? Far away from herd immunity Talking to UNB, Prof Muzaherul Huq, a former adviser to WHO South-East Asia region, said Bangladesh is not moving towards attaining herd immunity for the lack of a strong vaccination drive. “Bangladesh is far away from achieving herd immunity as only around 55 lakh people have so far given the first dose of Covid vaccine. The official figure about the virus cases is only 6,73,594. We don’t know how many people here have the antibody. So, we’ve an option to vaccinate our majority people for attaining herd immunity,” he observed. Also read: Is Bangladesh ready to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine?

Don’t even think of putting the mask away anytime soon.

A man in the United States has caught Covid-19 twice, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors said.

As the speculation is rife that authorities might be considering the herd-immunity concept to get rid of the coronavirus pandemic, a former World Health Organization (WHO) official warned that it cannot be a strategic option in a densely populated country like Bangladesh.

World Health Organization’s chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said that 50 to 60 per cent of the population will need to be immune to the novel coronavirus to protect the uninfected as herd immunity” is still a long way ahead for Covid-19