Covid-19 bd
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 120 more deaths, lowest in two months
Bangladesh logged 120 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours till Saturday morning, the lowest in about two months amid concern over the unlocking of the country from restrictions imposed to check the spread of the virus.
The country last saw 119 Coronavirus related deaths on June 27 and the upward curve of the fatalities reached its peak on August 5 and 10 with 264 deaths.
Besides, 3,991 more people came out positive with the virus after testing 23,882 samples during the last 24 hours, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh number pushed the country’s total fatalities to 25,143 while the cases reached 1,457,194.
Read: US okays Covid booster dose for those with weak immune systems
Meanwhile the case positivity rate fell to 16.71 % from Friday’s 17.18% , said the DGHS.
The country last recorded 16.38% daily case positivity rate on June 20.
The recovery rate rose to 93.02 %, but the case fatality increased to 1.73 % compared to the same period.
Among the new deaths, 40 died in the Dhaka division, 27 in Chattogram , 15 in Khulna, 13 Sylhet, nine in Rajshahi, seven in Rangpur, six in Mymensingh and three in Barishal division.
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Of them 69 were male and 51 female.
The country is currently seeing around 170 deaths and 6,800 cases on a seven day average.
Meanwhile, the government managed to vaccinate 6,395,466 with two doses, while another 16,386,203 people have received the first dose to date, said DGHS.
Bangladesh reports 197 new deaths as it fails to take hold on Covid
Bangladesh added 197 fatalities to its national tally on Friday as horrific Covid hospitalisations and deaths continue to soar.
The country is averaging 200-plus single-day fatalities for the last three weeks. After weathering the first wave of the virus, Bangladesh is now yet to see any tangible signs that it is turning the corner.
However, the country is now reporting 10,602 new cases on average each day – 73% of the peak.
Bangladesh recorded 8,465 new cases Friday after testing 40,641 samples, down from 12,606 logged a week earlier on August 6.
The country reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality number – 264 – on August 5 and 10, and 16,230 infections on July 28.
Read: Dhaka to receive 10 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses shortly
Bangladesh has been experiencing a surge of Covid-related caseloads and deaths since June 2021.
Frustration grows as chaos continues at Bangladesh’s vaccination centres
Vaccination centres across the country drew huge crowds on the 5th day of the mass vaccination drive, creating a chaotic situation everywhere and raising the risk of the virus transmission.
After a reality check at different vaccination centers, UNB correspondents saw long queues of people standing close to each other with little or no regard to social distancing rules.
Hundreds of jab-seekers, both male and female, turned up at the small vaccination centres with or without online registrations, overwhelming its medical staff.
The medical staff at the vaccination centres and the vaccine aspirants pointed fingers at each other because of mismanagement and slow pace of vaccination.
According to the UNB correspondents, the number of staff was too inadequate to smoothly vaccinate such a huge number of people.
As the ruthless Delta variant of Covid-19 keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh on Saturday kicked off another phase of its mass vaccination drive aimed at inoculating 35 lakh people in six days.
However, the drive has not been free of controversies as mismanagement and anomalies across the country became a topic of discussions in the last few days.
Even on the very first day of the drive, UNB reported about the chaotic situation which arose at the city’s Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital.
Nearly 4,000 vaccine seekers, including men and women, were seen waiting in queues in the corridors of its first and second floors with the vaccination going on at a snail’s pace.
Read: Covid kills 237 more in Bangladesh as Delta strain takes hold
Outraged by the “mismanagement”, the vaccine seekers said the situation turned worse as there was no arrangement for women to stand in any separate queue.
Tired of the long wait in the queue, the irate crowds got involved in quarrels with Ansar personnel and the hospital staff.
Some of them were seen trying to push each other to enter the vaccination rooms venting their anger amid chaos.
Inside the vaccination rooms, it was found that only two to three nurses were providing shots while another two or three medical staff were checking vaccination registration papers. They had to struggle a lot to cope with the situation for lack of manpower.
Pregnant, lactating women to get Covid jab: DGHS
The government has included pregnant and lactating women in the nationwide Covid-19 inoculation programme amid a worrying rise in Covid-19 hospital admissions across the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) issued a notice regarding this Sunday.
Although the pregnant women are now eligible for Covid-19 vaccination, they must follow some instructions before getting jabbed, according to the DGHS.
They have to take the Covid shots from government vaccination centres with medical facilities after getting counselling from a registered physician there.
Mothers-to-be who are unwell, suffering from chronic illness or have a history of vaccine allergy will not be allowed to take the jabs.
Read: Covid vaccine seekers overwhelm Suhrawardy Hospital; chaos all around
Also, they cannot take the second dose of vaccine if an AFI case is detected among them after taking the first shot.
And expectant mums will have to provide all health information to the registered doctor before getting jabbed.
Also, doses cannot be administered without the signed approval of a guardian or vaccine recipient and counselling a physician.
However, the lactating mothers can take a Covid shot like everyone else.
Earlier, the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group recommended the government for providing Covid vaccine to both mums-to-be and lactating mothers.
Read: Bangladesh to procure 6 crore Sinopharm vaccine doses: Minister
Expectant mums and lactating mothers were excluded from the Covid mass vaccination programme in Bangladesh from the beginning.
Earlier this year, when Covid vaccination was initiated in countries across the world mums-to-be were excluded from the programme due to a lack of safety information.
Now the UK Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend Covid vaccines for expectant mums and lactating women.
Getting vaccinated prevents severe illness, hospitalisations, and death and with the Delta variant, this is more urgent than ever, according to the CDC.
"Pregnant and recently pregnant people are more likely to get severely ill with Covid-19 compared with non-pregnant people. If you are pregnant, you can receive a Covid-19 vaccine. Getting a Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy can protect you from a severe illness Covid-19," it added.
Intercity, freight trains also to operate from Aug 11: Ministry
The Ministry of Railways has decided to operate 38 pairs of intercity and 20 commuter/freight trains from August 11 following the government’s announcement to ease the ongoing lockdown.
The ministry in a circular on Sunday said it has decided to operate passenger trains on all of its routes with a few exceptions following health guidelines until further directive.
The ministry, however, said intercity trains Ekta Express, Sundarban Express, Nilsagar Express and Rangpur Express will not operate from Dhaka on August 11, while Tongipara Express will not operate from Gobra.
Read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow
It said 50% tickets of intercity trains will be sold online and through mobile apps while the remaining 50% will be sold from Monday 8 am.
In the case of any negligence in maintaining health rules while operating the trains, legal action will be taken against the authorities concerned, the ministry said.
The movement of passenger trains has remained suspended across the country since July 23 after the government re-imposed the stringent lockdown amid a massive surge of Covid cases.
Read: Lockdown or no lockdown, life is the same in Dhaka
The passenger trains were allowed to move for eight days from July 15-22 across the country keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Division issued a circular saying that the government has decided to allow all public transport to operate at full capacity across Bangladesh from August 11.
Lockdown breaches: 241 arrested in Dhaka on day 17
Police arrested 241 more people in Dhaka on Sunday for violating lockdown restrictions on the 17th day of the countrywide lockdown aimed at reducing the Covid-19 spread.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for being out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 37,450 in fines from 84 people.
Read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow
Also, the Traffic Division collected Tk 12,18,000 as penalties from 537 vehicles for violating lockdown restrictions.
The number of vehicles and people on the city’s streets were comparatively higher on Sunday than the previous day.
The movement of people and vehicles increased significantly on the 17th day of lockdown on as many people are coming out of their houses for various reasons.
Read: Lockdown or no lockdown, life is the same in Dhaka
Some people are going outside for vaccination as mass vaccination programme began in the country on Saturday while many more for other reasons as export-oriented factories were opened on August 1.
It is only the shopping malls and eateries that remained closed and public transport stayed off roads as per lockdown rules.
Bangladesh reports 248 more deaths as Delta variant keeps lashing
As the ruthless Delta variant keeps spreading like wildfire, Bangladesh added 248 fatalities to its national tally Friday, up from 212 logged a week earlier.
The country has been reporting over 200 single-day fatalities for the last two weeks as it races to head off a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the unrelenting Delta variant.
After weathering the first wave of the virus, Bangladesh's health services are now stretched dangerously thin.
The Covid-19 infections are on the upswing, with 13,771 – 95% of the peak – new cases reported on average each day.
Bangladesh recorded 12,606 new cases on Friday after testing 48,015 samples, down from 13,862 logged a week earlier on July 30.
Read: Bangladesh ready to kick off massive vaccination drive Saturday: DGHS DG
The country reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 264 on August 5 and 16,230 infections on July 28.
Indian sends 30 ambulances to Bangladesh
A total of 30 ambulances, now in Petrapole, will reach Bangladesh soon.
After clearances at Benapole land custom check post, they will leave for Dhaka soon.
The remaining ambulances are expected to arrive in batches by September end, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Read: Bangladesh shatters its own records; reports 264 single-day Covid deaths
During the state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh on March 26-27, he had announced the gift of 109 Life Support ambulances to the Government of Bangladesh, to further enhance healthcare, especially in the shared effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh to receive 34 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses next week: FM
Bangladesh will receive another consignment of 34 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine next week while 60 lakh doses of Pfizer vaccine in the first week of September, said Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Thursday.
Apart from that, Bangladesh will also receive 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine soon which is likely to come under the COVAX facility, he said.
“We’ve lined up well. We think we’re on the right track,” he told reporters at State guesthouse Padma after attending a function there.
Referring to the Health Ministry, Dr Momen said Bangladesh has a stock of 1.23 crore vaccine doses and some of the doses (AstraZeneca) will be kept for the second dose.
Read: No movement without vaccine will be allowed after Aug. 11: Minister
On coproduction of vaccine, he said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on coproduction of Sinopharm vaccine in Bangladesh will be signed at any moment.
The Law Ministry has already cleared it after vetting and it will be signed at any moment, said the Foreign Minister adding that “Everything is final.”
Dr Momen said the coproduction of vaccine doses in Bangladesh is essential. “I want the start of coproduction.”
Earlier, he said the MoU is with the Health Ministry and the Health Ministry should dispose of it very quickly.
Read: Vaccine coproduction deal with Sinopharm ready for signing: FM
Dr Momen said the government of Bangladesh, Sinopharm and a local company (Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd) will sign the agreement.
Incepta will bring in bulk and bottling, labeling and finishing of the vaccine will be done locally making the price relatively very cheap.
Asked whether there is any shift from the government plan to vaccinate 1 crore people each week, Dr Momen said it is their target as per the Health Ministry and hoped to vaccinate 8 crore people within two months.
No movement without vaccine will be allowed after Aug. 11: Minister
Taking Covid jabs has been made mandatory for public movement from Aug. 11, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said on Tuesday urging people to get vaccinated to avoid punishment.
The minister said this while talking to reporters about the government decision of extending the ongoing lockdown till August 10.
He said, “It has been made mandatory to take Covid jabs for public movement from August 11.
Read: BMRC clears Indian Covaxin’s clinical trials in Bangladesh
Any movement without being vaccinated would be considered a punishable offense.”
As per the government decision of reopening workplaces, local shops, factories and retail outlets along with public transports from August 11, people who didn’t get Covid jabs yet were instructed to get vaccinated within the remaining days of extended lockdown.
Read: Vaccine coproduction deal with Sinopharm ready for signing: FM
The government is set to launch a nationwide mass vaccination drive from 14,000 vaccine centres from August 7 aimed at giving shots to one crore people in one week. Once vaccinated, the certificate will be available to download on the website and it will work as the movement pass for people, he said.
The minister warned further that anyone over the age of 18 without a vaccine found on the street after the lockdown ends will face punishment.