coronavirus BD
Migrants listed in priority list for Covid-19 vaccine
Migrant workers bound for overseas destinations have been enlisted in priority list to get Covid-19 vaccine jabs.
The Department of Health issued a letter regarding the matter on Thursday.
Also read: International vaccine institute to be set up in Bangladesh: Hasina
Imran Ahmed, the minister of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment ministry has expressed satisfaction over the inclusion of expatriate workers in the list.
Also read: Bangladesh approves single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine
A meeting was held yesterday between the relevant ministry and the health ministry to discuss the issue of vaccination of expatriate workers on priority basis. During the meeting, Health Minister Zahid Maleque assured that expatriate workers would be given vaccines on priority basis.
Bangladesh continues to report alarming Covid deaths
The Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh keeps worsening as 50 new deaths and 3,319 infections were recorded in 24 hours till 8 am Tuesday.
The positivity rate fell slightly to 14.27% on Tuesday from Monday’s 14.80%, said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Bangladesh recorded more than 50 deaths on May 9 this year and over 3,000 cases on April 27.
With the new figures, the country’s death toll now stands at 13,222 while the caseload at 833,291.
During the period, the fatality rate remained static at 1.59%, shows the DGHS handout.
The fresh cases were detected after testing 23,265 samples during the period, while the country so far tested 6,218,979 samples.
As of now, 771,073 people have recovered from Covid infections, putting the country’s recovery rate at 92.53%.
Also read: RMCH sees 12 more Covid deaths in 24 hrs
Rajshahi and Khulna divisions recorded the highest 15 deaths today, while Dhaka and Chattogram divisions recorded six deaths each; Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions three deaths each and Barishal and Rangpur divisions one death each.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 vaccination due to jab shortage amid a delay in the arrival of shipments from India.
Some 4,257,499 people got the second dose of this vaccine while the number is 58,20,015 for the first one.
Besides, the total number of people receiving their first jab of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine is 2,162.
Indefinite lockdown in Magura city and Mohammadpur Upazila from Sunday
Authorities announced an indefinite lockdown for Magura city and Mohammadpur Upazila effective from 6 pm Sunday amid a surge in the corona virus infections.
The announcement came from Magura Deputy Commissioner Dr Ashraful Alam and Mohammadpur Upazila Nirbahi Office on Sunday.
The decision came after 17 people tested positive with Covid-19 in 53 sample tests as of Sunday.
Also read: Covid pandemic: Situation in Bangladesh worsening, 47 more die
According to the announcement, all the public transport services except emergency ones will remain suspended during the period.
Besides, all shops and shopping malls were ordered to remain shut except food and medicine stores.
Also read: Second consignment of Sinopharm vaccine arrives
Until now 1326 Covid cases were detected in the district after 8357 sample tests, said Civil Surgeon Dr Shahidullah Dewan.
Also 24 Coronavirus related deaths were logged while 1,222 got cured of it.
Bangladesh loses 43 more lives to Covid-19, toll crosses 13,000
Covid-19 claimed 43 lives in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Friday morning as the upward march of the virus took the country's fatalities to 13,032.
The positivity rate which was 13.25% on Thursday – the highest in 46 days since April 25 this year – almost remained unchanged at 13.24%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country logged 2,454 new cases after testing 18,535 samples as the administration of the first dose of the vaccine remains suspended here since April 26.
The new number took Bangladesh's caseload to 822,849. However, the recovery rate and fatality rate remained unchanged at 92.59% and 1.58%.
Rajshahi division saw the highest fatalities during the period with the death of 11 people while Chattogram witnessed 10 deaths, Dhaka eight, Khulna seven, Rangpur four, Barishal two, and Mymensingh one.
Also read: Bangladesh to get over 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX: FM
Vaccination drive
So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got the approval for emergency use in Bangladesh.
Lockdown/Lock-in: Rajshahi taken off rail network to fight surge in infections
The government has decided to keep passenger train services between Rajshahi and other parts of the country suspended from Friday in the wake of the increased detection rate of Covid-19 infection in the frontier districts.
The suspension of services will be effective until midnight past June 17, Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman, director (public relations) of Bangladesh Railway, said Thursday.
Bangladesh Railway came up with the announcement as the local administration has imposed an all-out lockdown in the Rajshahi city for a week, starting 5pm Friday, amid a spike in Covid-19 infections there.
Also read: Train services to resume at half capacity from Monday
No vehicle will be allowed into Rajshahi city and transports cannot leave the area. However, emergency vehicles are exempt from the lockdown.
Rajshahi division confirmed 815 daily cases – the highest in the country — in the past 24 hours until Thursday morning. Eight people died from Covid-19 there during the same period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
Also read: Passenger train services to remain suspended during lockdown: Minister
On May 24, regular train services across the country were resumed after suspension of over a month as part of the government restrictions on people's movement to curb coronavirus transmission. However, the authorities were asked to keep 50% of seats vacant for ensuring social distancing.
On April 5, passenger train services were suspended across the country as part of a countrywide lockdown – imposed to tackle the second wave of infection.
Covid-19: Elections of 163 union parishads, 9 municipalities postponed
Taking stock of the Covid-19 situation in the country, the Election Commission (EC) has postponed elections to 163 union parishads in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Noakhali, Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.
Elections to 68 union parishads in Bagerhat, 34 in Khulna, 21 in Satkhira, 13 in Noakhali, 12 in Chattogram, and 15 in Cox's Bazar have been withheld, which were scheduled for June 21.
The commission has also decided to postpone elections to nine municipalities, out of 11, slated for the same date.
Also read: Covid positivity rate in Bangladesh hits 13.25 %, highest in 46 days
However, 204 other union parishads will go to the polls as per schedule on June 21; by-polls to Lakshmipur-2 will also be held as per schedule on the same date.
The decisions came at an urgent meeting of the commission Thursday amid an upward march of Covid-19 infections in the electoral areas.
Also read: By-elections: 94 aspirants collect nomination papers from the Awami League
The meeting also decided to reschedule by-polls to Dhaka-14, Cumilla-5 and Sylhet-3 to July 28 from July 14.
The commission postponed the polls after considering recommendations of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, local administration, and regional election officials, EC Secretary Humayun Kabir Khandakar said.
Bangladesh ill-equipped to cope with Delta variant of Covid: Experts
As the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 has made its way into Dhaka and other districts from frontier ones, experts fear an impending health catastrophe in the coming weeks since there is no strict measure in place to stop it.
They said half-hearted preventive measures, lack of seriousness of local administrations, reopening of intra-district transport services and people’s apathy to maintain health safety guidelines are the major reasons behind the worsening Covid situation in the country.
The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research has recently found 80 percent of a randomly selected sample of 50 Covid patients infected with the Delta variant.
It also said the deadly variant has spread to parts of central Bangladesh, including the capital, while seven workers of Ashrayan Project in Nawabganj upazila of Dhaka have been detected with the same virus strain.
The sudden spike in virus cases has put a severe strain on four major hospitals ---Rajshahi Medical College, Khulna Medical College, Chapainawabganj and Kushtia General Hospital--with increasing patients from 11 nearby districts.
Also read: IEDCR study of 50 samples finds 40 are Delta
Experts said the government should immediately increase the number of beds, doctors and nurses and treatment facilities, in these hospitals to cope with the pressure of Covid patients.
The virus infection has been showing an upward trend in Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Joypurhat, Naogaon, Kushtia, Jashore, Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Natore, Noakhali and Cox's Bazar districts for several days.
Covid-19: Bangladesh registers 43 more deaths; positivity rate hits 11.03%
As Coronavirus-related deaths and infections keep growing in Bangladesh again, the country recorded 43 more deaths in the past 24 hours till Saturday morning.
Besides, 1,447 new cases were registered during the period, taking the country's caseload to 809,314.
With the latest death toll, the total number of fatalities rose to 12,801.
The daily infection rate climbed to 11.03% from Friday's 10.40% while the mortality rate remained static at 1.58%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The new cases were detected after testing 13,115 samples.
Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions saw the highest fatalities during the period with 12 deaths each while Chattogram division witnessed eight deaths, Khulna five, Rangpur three, Mymensingh two and Sylhet one.
Of the deceased, 30 were men while 13 women.
Of them, one was below 10 years, one in his 20s, five are 30 years old, two of 40, 13 are of 50 old and 21 are above 60 years.
READ: 1st USAID consignment of Covid-19 response relief on way to Bangladesh
However, 749,425 patients have recovered so far, keeping the country’s recovery rate at 92.60%.
Bangladesh reported its first Covid cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
IEDCR study of 50 samples finds 40 are Delta
Delta, the Coronavirus variant first found in India, turned out to be 80% of some 50 genomes sequenced in Bangladesh since May 16 by IEDCR. There is also evidence of community transmission of the variant, according to research jointly carried out by IEDCR and IDSHI.
The study also identified one "unknown variant" and found 8 of the samples (16%) to be infected with the South African variant.
IEDCR and IDSHI collected and analysed 50 samples from across the country, including border districts and the capital since May 16.
The research also found 40 out of the total 50 cases as Delta variant, known as Indian variant, in samples collected from Chapainawabganj, Gopalganj, Khulna, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Bagerhat, Jhenaidah and Pirojpur.
Also read: Indian Variant: The New Concern
Also, among the 40 patients, eight were tested positive after returning from India while 18 others came in contact with overseas returnees although they did not travel abroad.
Meanwhile, among the samples collected, 14 infected people neither went abroad nor came in contact with people with travel history. So, it is clear that the Indian variant is being transmitted at the community level inside the country, the research said.
On May 8, the Indian variant was detected in Bangladesh for the first time. All of the infected people returned from the neighbouring country.
The "highly contagious" Indian Delta variant was first detected in October last year. The World Health Organization labelled it a "variant of concern."
Also read: 8 Indian variant cases identified in Jashore
Dismissing all concerns, Razzaque takes mantle of speaking for health sector
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Friday said the health sector won’t face any fund crisis to tackling the Covid-19 situation.
“Fund will be given to the health sector whenever the money is required,” he said at a virtual post-budget press conference.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal also addressed the press conference, arranged a day after he placed the proposed budget for 2021-22 fiscal in Parliament.
Dr Razzaque said the Finance Ministry also repeatedly assured that "money won’t be a problem," or "allocation won’t matter to face the corona."
He said the Prime Minister repeatedly advocated a balance between lives and livelihoods - the cardinal choice for policymakers in the pandemic era. Some on the left however, point to at least the possibility that this is a false dichotomy. Not Dr Razzaque though.
Also read: New budget unveiled with focus on protecting lives and livelihoods
"If the livelihood is not taken care of, many people will be severely affected or even die (without catching Covid)," he added.
The Agriculture Minister said the country’s economy is now vibrant and on a strong footing amid the growing reserves of foreign currency.
“The way the whole world is facing it (Covid-19), I think this government will also face it in that way. Money will not be a problem for it,” he said.
About the budgetary allocation for the health sector, Senior Secretary of Finance Division Abdur Rouf Talukder also said some Tk 14,200 crore has been kept in the proposed budget for procuring Covid vaccines during the upcoming fiscal year.
“We’ll provide the fund, if the health sector needs more money,” he said.
Also read: New budget: Tracking prices going up and down
The Finance Secretary said the budgetary allocation for the Health Services Division has increased by 13.2 percent for the upcoming fiscal year, compared to the outgoing fiscal year. But the overall budget size has risen by 6.3 percent. “So, the growth in the allocation for the health sector is more than double,” he said.
Replying to a question over the inability to spend more money on the health sector, Abdur Rouf said the government identified two problems – lack of capacity among the officials engaged in procurement, and mismatch between demand and supply during procurement.
He said the government will address the two problems in the upcoming fiscal year as it is going to take measures to provide training for the officials.
Planning Minister MA Mannan, PM’s Economic Affair Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman, Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, and National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, among others, spoke at the conference.