Though the coronavirus pandemic has eased in Bangladesh, it killed eight more people and infected 166 others in 24 hours till Saturday morning. The daily-case positivity rate declined to 1.25 per cent from Friday’s 1.71 per cent. The fresh cases were detected after testing 13,240 samples, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With the fresh numbers, the Covid-19 fatalities reached 27,862 while the caseload climbed to 1,569,328, according to DGHS. Read: Vaccination campaign for school students to begin on Nov 1 Among the deceased, six were men and two were women. However, the mortality rate rose to 1.78 per cent from Friday’s 1.77 per cent. Also, the recovery rate stood at 97.69 per cent with the recovery of 181 more patients during the period. Mass vaccination Bangladesh on Thursday launched the second phase of its special nationwide mass vaccination drive, aiming to vaccinate 80 lakh people with the second shot in a day. The 9am to 3pm vaccination drive was part of the special campaign that was first unveiled on September 27 to mark Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday. On September 28, the first phase of the special nationwide mass vaccination drive was launched.

Marking another grim Eid under the shadow of a pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious delta variant, Bangladesh saw 173 more Covid-19 deaths Wednesday.   Also, Covid-19 infections in the country have reached 97% of the peak, with 11,533 new cases reported on average each day. The highest daily average was recorded on July 15. Read:Covid refuses to slow down in Bangladesh; 199 more die Bangladesh recorded 7,614 new infections in 24 hours till Wednesday morning after testing 24,979 samples – 14,531 fewer compared to yesterday. The country reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality number – 231 – on July 19 and 13,768 infections on the 12th of the month. Wednesday's death counts and cases are the lowest in 14 days and 18 days. However, Bangladesh is in the grip of a second wave of the virus that is threatening to overwhelm its health service. There have been 1,136,503 infections and 18,498 coronavirus-related deaths here since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 30.48% from Tuesday's 29.31% when the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate. As the death rate stood at 1.63%, Dhaka division reported the highest 58 deaths, Khulna 38, Chattogram 32, Rangpur 16, Rajshahi 11, Barishal eight, Sylhet six, and Mymensingh four. However, the recovery rate increased to 84.56%. So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 11,341,291 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses. The government allowed an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown for Eid-ul-Azha despite fears that crowding at shopping centres, cattle markets, and big gatherings could become super-spreader events. The country imposed its toughest lockdown at the start of July. Under the lockdown, people were only allowed to leave home to buy essentials and for emergencies. However, with the recent removal of the curbs ahead of Eid celebrations, people were seen breaking Covid-19 rules while they were on the streets and in the markets and malls. Uncontrolled movement of people and rampant breaches of health rules before and after Eid could make things worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause. At least 26.2 lakh subscribers of the four telecom operators left Dhaka in three days starting July 15 to celebrate Eid, according to Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar. With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, the country's fatalities have been hovering at approximately 200 for the last two weeks. July looks to be the most devastating month since Bangladesh saw its fast Covid cases in March 2020, with around 4,000 deaths so far. Earlier, it recorded 2,404 Covid deaths in April, 1,169 in May and 1,884 in June.   The WHO has reported that globally, Covid-19 cases and deaths had soared after periods of decline, with the reversal spurred in part by the delta variant. Read: Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh crosses 12,000  

Bangladesh witnessed a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases and fatalities as it recorded 40 more deaths and 1675 cases in 24 hours until Tuesday morning. The Covid positivity rate rose to 10.08 percent again during the period after maintaining it below 10 percent since May 15. Read: Bangladesh reports two ‘black fungus’ cases, one suspected death The country had been seeing below 40 deaths since May13. Health authorities registered 1,675 new cases after testing 16,624 samples during the 24-hour period. Besides, the mortality rate remained static at 1.57 percent, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With the latest figures, the total caseload reached 7,92,196 and the death tally climbed to 12,441. Bangladesh’s recovery rate now stands at 92.50% with 1,279 recoveries during the period. As of now, 7,32,810 people have recovered from the disease. Eighteen of the 40 deaths recorded today were from Chattogram division while from Dhaka division. Four died in Rajshahi, three each in Khulna, Barishal, Rangpur and one in Sylhet divisions. Bangladesh so far carried out 58,54,919 sample tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18, 2020.  Worst coming in June-end With Covid cases keep soaring in frontier districts apparently because of the highly contagious Indian variant, experts fear that Bangladesh may face the worst outbreak of the deadly virus at the end of June next. They said if the B.1.617, known as the Indian variant, can make its way into other areas from the bordering districts, Bangladesh is likely to witness more than 20,000 cases a day in early July, raising the fatality rate sharply. Lack of necessary oxygen supply and other healthcare facilities may aggravate the situation, according to the experts. Terrifying scenario along border Though the country’s average Covid positivity rate was below 10 percent till Monday, it was very high in different districts along the Indian border. Chapainawabganj was the worst-hit district with 55 percent infection rate, forcing the local administration to enforce a 7-day strict lockdown from today. Besides, the positivity rate was over 40 percent in Rajshahi. The infection rate was also high in some other frontier districts like Satkhira, Jashore, Jhenaidah, Dinajpur, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Sylhet and Moulvibazar. Talking to UNB, DGHS spokesman Robed Amin said, Covid patients with Indian variants were found in bordering districts, including Chapianwabganj, Rajshahi and Jashore. “It’s alarming news. As this variant spreads fast, the infection rate may continue to surge seriously, if people show apathy to masking up and abiding by health safety rules. Vaccination   Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute. The administration of the first dose has remained suspended 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, the administering of the 1st dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine against Covid-19 began in Bangladesh on Tuesday.

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.

Bangladesh on Friday reported its single-day Covid-19 death toll of 57, the lowest in 25 days, even though the virus surge still remained at the disturbing level. The new figure that came in the last 24 hours until Friday morning brought the country's total fatalities to 11,450 while health authorities reported 2,177 new cases during the period. The infection rate rose to 10.34% from Thursday's 9.39% while the death rate remained static at 1.51%, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).  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. 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. With the latest figure, 7,59,132 cases have been detected so far in Bangladesh. The number of recoveries now stands at 681,426, meaning 89.76% of the patients have recovered till now, the DGHS said. Bangladesh has so far tested 5,469,704 samples, including 21,046 in the past 24 hours. The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. April, the fatal month In the last 30 days, 23,889 cases of infections and more than 2,404 deaths were officially registered, making April the most fatal month since the outbreak began last year. The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.  Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region, registering most of the deaths – 6,686 or 58.39%.  Twenty-eight of the 57 deaths reported today are from Dhaka division and 13 from Chattogram division. Lockdown extended till May 5 To break the Covid chain, the government enforced a nationwide lockdown in early April. Having failed to achieve the intended results, it imposed a strict lockdown on April 11 and then extended it up to April 28.  On Wednesday, the government issued a circular extending the lockdown up to May 5, as there is no improvement in the Covid-19 situation. However, shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm during the period, the announcement said.  Vaccination Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from India's Serum Institute.  The country 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 remained suspended since Monday. DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May. Vaccine production in Bangladesh The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh. The government on Thursday approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine. It approved the emergency use of the Sputnik V Vaccine of Russia a day earlier. "We'll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as a gift within 7-10 days. Then we'll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on a G2G basis," Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA told reporters on Thursday. Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and HealthCare Pharma have the capacity of producing vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Mahbubur said. On Thursday, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through the direct procurement method (DPM) India's Covid crisis The explosion of new Covid-19 cases is overwhelming Bangladesh's largest neighbour India, leaving millions of people infected and putting stress on the country's already overtaxed health care system. With 386,452 new cases, India confirmed more than 18.7 million on Friday since the pandemic began, the second only to the US.  Its health ministry also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330. Experts said the actual figures were likely much higher but it is unclear by how much. Months ago, India had appeared to be winning its battle against the pandemic. After a strict initial lockdown, the country did not see a surge in new cases and deaths compared to other countries. But when the early restrictions were lifted, many people stopped taking precautions with large gatherings, political rallies and religious festivals being held at many places, drawing millions of people. Bangladesh-India border sealed On April 26, Bangladesh closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargoes for the next 14 days as the coronavirus situation in the neighbouring country had gone out of control.

Bangladesh recorded 88 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours until Friday morning as the country grapples to tackle the second wave of the virus. The health authorities also reported 3,629 new cases, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout. The coronavirus death toll now stands at 10,869 with the mortality rate slightly rising to 1.47 percent after staying at 1.46 for the last two days. Meanwhile, the daily infection rate fell to 14 percent from Thursday’s 14.63 percent. Between April 16 and 19, the country recorded over 100 deaths breaking previous daily records. Bangladesh saw 91, 95 and 98 Covid-related deaths on April 20, 21 and 22 respectively. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 98 more deaths, 4014 new infections Health authorities have so far confirmed 739,703 cases. Among them, 647,674 people - 87.56 percent of all patients – have recovered.

US health officials have confirmed fewer than 6,000 cases of Covid-19 in fully vaccinated Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Seventy-four of them died. The cases represent just 0.007% of the 84 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated, reports CNBC. Despite the 'breakthrough' infections, Dr Walensky this week said the vaccines are working as intended.  Read Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot "With any vaccine, we expect such rare cases, but so far out of more than 84 million people who were fully vaccinated, we have only received reports of less than 6,000 breakthrough cases," Walensky told reporters at a press briefing on Monday. Breakthrough cases are defined as someone contracting the virus more than 14 days after their second shot of the vaccine, i.e. when they can be said to be fully vaccinated. "Although this number is from 43 states and territories and likely an underestimate, it still makes a really important point, these vaccines are working. Of the nearly 6,000 cases, approximately 30% had no symptoms at all," Walensky said. "This is really encouraging news. It demonstrates what we’ve already discussed about these vaccines. They also help prevent you from getting seriously ill." Also read: Oregon: CDC investigating woman’s death after J&J vaccine Out of the 6,000 or so breakthrough infections, 396 people were hospitalized and 74 people died, according to CDC data released last week. The breakthrough infections have been reported in people of all ages. Around 45% of the infections were in patients over 60 years old.  Some 65% of these breakthrough infections have been reported in females.  Also read: Global Covid-19 cases cross 144 million Half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of those aged 65 and older, 81% have received one dose or more and about two-thirds are fully vaccinated. CDC's breakthrough case investigations According to the CDC, there will be "a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19." Variants will cause some of these breakthroughs.  Also read: Fully vaccinated people can travel safely again, CDC says It adds that "[t]o date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections." The CDC website reiterates that the Covid-19 vaccines are effective, and recommends that all eligible people get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to them.

COVID-19 infections are approaching their highest rates since the pandemic began just over a year ago, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Friday.  “Around the world, cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during his regular briefing, reports UN News.  “Globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled over the past two months. This is approaching the highest rate of infection that we have seen so far during the pandemic.”  As of Friday, there were 138.5 million cases worldwide, and more than 2.9 million deaths. The pandemic was declared in March 2020.  Tedros said some countries which had previously avoided widespread virus transmission are now witnessing “steep increases” in infections, with Papua New Guinea serving as an example.  Concern for Papua New Guinea  The Pacific island nation, which has a population of around eight million, had managed to keep the disease at bay. Up until the beginning of the year, there were less than 900 cases and nine deaths.  Currently, more than 9,300 cases and 82 deaths have been recorded, and all 22 provinces have been affected. The country’s health Minister, Jelta Wong, who also briefed journalists, said half of all cases and deaths were reported in the last month alone, and health workers are increasingly among those infected.  Also read: No region in the world spared as virus cases, deaths surge  “Our biggest challenge is seemingly to the late adaption or acceptance of the ‘new normal’ and the disbelief in the disease itself,” he said. “This overlaps into much infodemic - and conspiracies and misinformation on the safety and the efficiency of the vaccines.”   The situation in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, is concerning, Tedros said, as it could lead to a much larger epidemic.  Late last month, Australia donated some 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to its neighbour, and an additional 132,000 doses were delivered this week through the COVAX solidarity initiative.  Vaccine equity now  Tedros said PNG was a perfect example of why vaccine equity is so important, an issue which the WHO chief and other senior UN officials have repeatedly highlighted.  Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Financing for Development Forum that “to end the pandemic for good, we need equitable access to vaccines for everyone, everywhere.”   WHO continues to assess the pandemic’s evolution. Its Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met this week and Tedros said he will receive its latest advice on Monday.  Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths Update on virus variants  Monitoring of the COVID-19 virus variant first detected in India continues, WHO said on Friday.  The B 1 617 variant, which has two mutations, emerged at the end of last year and cases have been reported in other countries across Asia and North America.  “This is one variant of interest that we are following,” said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s Technical Lead on COVID-19.  “Having two of these mutations, which have been seen in other variants around the world, are concerning because there’s a similarity in these mutations that confer increased transmissibility, for example. Some of these mutations result in reduced neutralization which may have an impact on our counter measures, including the vaccines.”  Strengthening surveillance  COVID-19 variants have been reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa, while a third that was first detected in Japan is circulating in Brazil and elsewhere.  Dr. Van Kerkhove said WHO and partners have been bringing together countries, researchers and different networks, to strengthen global monitoring and assessment of the new coronavirus.  Also read: Shocking imbalance in Covid vaccine distribution: WHO “It’s really important that that assessment is robust so we understand what each variant of interest and variant of concern means for transmission, for severity and for impacts on diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines”, she said.  COVID-19 vaccines developed so far have been effective against the variants, she added, “but we want to have a system in place should there need to be a change in some of our counter measures going forward.”

Ekattor TV Associate News Producer Rifat Sultana, who tested positive for Covid-19 a week ago, died at a city hospital Friday evening after suffering a cardiac arrest. The 32-year-old journalist had also been suffering from pregnancy-related complications. Parvez Reza, special correspondent of the private TV channel, confirmed the news to UNB saying: "Rifat's husband and mother-in-law also tested Covid-19 positive." Also read: Ex-law minister Abdul Matin Khasru dies She had to undergo a Caesarean delivery on Thursday and the newborn baby has been kept in another private hospital in the city. The private television channel also shared the news of Rifat's death on its verified Facebook page. Meantime, Bangladesh broke its previous records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities in 24 hours until Friday morning although the number of new cases remained below the 5,000-mark. Also read Covid-19: Bangladesh shatters single-day fatalities record with 101 deaths The death tally now stands at 10,182 with a mortality rate of 1.43%, the Directorate General of Health Services said. Also, the daily infection rate climbed to 23.36% with 4,417 new cases.

Bangladesh broke its previous records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities in 24 hours until Friday morning although the number of new cases remained below the 5,000 mark. The death tally now stands at 10,182 with a mortality rate of 1.43 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout. With 4,417 new cases, the daily infection rate climbed to 23.36 percent. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. So far, 711,779 cases have been confirmed, with 602,908 recoveries (84.7 percent of all patients) – including 5,694 in the last 24 hours. Until now, 5,134,478 tests, including 18,906 in the last 24 hours, have been conducted. RT-PCR tests, considered the gold standard for Covid-19 testing, are being conducted at 121 facilities – 52 government and 69 private labs. Also read: South Asia fast becoming new global epicentre of Covid-19: IFRC