One of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is warning that the next pandemic may be more contagious and more lethal unless more money is devoted to research and preparations to fight emerging viral threats. In excerpts released before a speech Monday, Professor Sarah Gilbert says the scientific advances made in fighting deadly viruses “must not be lost” because of the cost of fighting the current pandemic. “This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,’’ Gilbert is expected to say. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.” Gilbert is scheduled to make the remarks Monday night when she delivers this year’s Richard Dimbleby lecture, named after the late broadcaster who was the BBC’s first war correspondent and a pioneer of television news in Britain. The annual televised lecture features addresses by influential figures in business, science and government. Also read: Covid: WHO warns pandemic will drag on into 2022 Gilbert is set to call on governments to redouble their commitment to scientific research and pandemic preparedness, even after the threat of COVID-19 wanes. “We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,’’ she said. “The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.” Also read: Omicron brings COVID-19 vaccine inequity 'home to roost'

Chattogram has received another 2,66,400 doses of covid vaccine on Friday morning as the nationwide vaccination drive is set to get a push on Saturday. Of the 2,66,400 doses of vaccine received here, 38,400 doses are of Moderna, USA, 1,20,000 are of China’s Sinopharm and 1,80,000 are of Oxford-AstraZeneca. Civil Surgeon of the district Dr Sheikh Fazle Rabbi along with the local vaccine committee members received the vaccine doses around 7am. Read: People find 'easy excuses' to defy lockdown in Dhaka The civil surgeon said the vaccine doses were stored in the central cold storage of the civil surgeon's office. These doses will be supplied to vaccination centres as per their demand. Among the vaccine doses, AstraZeneca jabs are for the second dose, Moderna for the ward-based mass vaccination programme and Sinopharm for the union level in upazilas, said Dr Rabbi. Some 4,53,760 people in Chattogram took the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. As many as 1,05,425 people who took the first dose have been waiting for their second doses as many have already passed four months since taking the first doses. Read: Covid kills 218 more in Bangladesh as its catastrophe continues Earlier, Chattogram received 1,84,000 doses of Sinopharm and Moderna vaccine on July 11 and 1,85,000 doses on July 28. During the last week, Bangladesh administered around 307,614 doses on average a day. At that pace, it will take 107 more days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population here. So far, since the inauguration of mass inoculation in Bangladesh on February 7 this year, some 4,416,131 people have fully been vaccinated with two shots while 10,009,953 have received the first doses, says the DG of the DGHS.

The government will resume administering the second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from Monday in Dhaka division. Dr Shamsul Haque, director of the vaccination program of the Health Department informed this in the regular Covid health bulletin on Sunday It will be administered in all centres across the country from August 7. Also read: Preparations underway to vaccinate 1 crore people by next week: Minister He said SMS will be sent to the people who have taken the first dose of AstraZeneca. However, those who have received SMS for the second dose earlier but have not been vaccinated will not need the SMS to take the second shot. On Saturday, Bangladesh received the second consignment of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Japan under the COVAX facility. The second consignment contains 7,81,320 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. The third consignment that will contain 6,16,780 doses of the vaccine is scheduled to arrive here on Tuesday. In this regard, the director said, "We'll be able to vaccinate those waiting for the second dose of this vaccine." The government started mass vaccination through Covishield (AstraZeneca) vaccine in last February.  Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25 However, 15,21,000 people did not get the second dose of  after the stock of the jabs purchased from India ran out. Around 58 lakh people received the first dose and 42 lakh people took the 2nd dose of the vaccine so far.

As Covid-19 is continuing to spread around the world the caseload has crossed 1758.4 million. The total caseload and fatalities stand at 178,424, 674 and 3,864,442 respectively as of Monday morning. The latest figures have been released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). So far, 2,600, 035,128 vaccine doses have been administered across the globe. Read:Global hunger levels rise as conflict, climate shocks and Covid collide The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged 33,541,889 cases, according to JHU. Besides, 601,826 people have lost their lives in the US to date. Brazil is experiencing a new wave of infections in hospitals as the country has registered 1,025 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the national death toll to 501,825, the health ministry said Sunday. A total of 44,178 new infections were detected, raising the total caseload to 17,927,928, the ministry said. Brazil has the world's second highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, following the United States and India. Read: Bangladesh reports alarming 82 Covid deaths, highest in 52 days India's Covid-19 tally rose to 29,881,772 on Monday with 386,708 fatalities. Situation in Bangladesh As the Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh has taken a turn for the worse again, 82 more people died of coronavirus in 24 hours until Sunday morning. This is the highest daily death toll in the last 52 days as the country logged 88 deaths on April 29 this year. During the period, 3,641 more Covid cases were detected after the test of 22,231 samples, said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). With the new numbers, the country’s caseload now stood at 851,668 while the death toll at 13,548, said the DGHS handout. Read: Covid claims three lives, infects 102 others in Chapainawabganj Bangladesh is now administering the 1st doses of Sinopharm vaccine and the second dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.It will start administering Pfizer vaccine Monday. So far 3,720 people received the first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, including 764 in the past 24 hours. Of the Astrazeneca vaccine, 4,270,322 people received the second shot and 5,820,015 the first one so far.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that the UK will donate at least 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year, including 5 million beginning in the coming weeks. The donation is in addition to the UK work to support Oxford-AstraZeneca’s contribution to fighting COVID and the UK's financial backing to COVAX. The UK will donate 5 million doses by the end of September, beginning in the coming weeks, primarily for use in the world’s poorest countries.  Read:Tireless advocate of migrant refugees Swing passes away The Prime Minister has also committed to donating a further 95 million doses within the next year, including 25 million more by the end of 2021.  Some 80% of the 100m doses will go to COVAX and the remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need. By sharing 5 million doses in the coming weeks the UK will meet an immediate demand for vaccines for the countries worst affected by coronavirus without delaying completion of our initial domestic vaccination programme. Last week the British Prime Minister asked fellow G7 leaders to help vaccinate the entire world by the end of next year. By vaccinating more people around the world not only will we help bring an end to the global coronavirus pandemic, we will reduce the risk to people in the UK.  This includes significantly reducing the threat posed by vaccine-resistant variants emerging in areas with large-scale outbreaks. The UK helped to establish COVAX last year and is its fourth-biggest donor, pledging £548 million to the scheme.  Read:FM's NY Visit: Dhaka to press for early repatriation of Rohingyas

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani-owned oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries is working to develop a new anti-Covid formulation -- a tapeworm drug -- as the country grapples with a devastating second wave of the pandemic. Reliance has disclosed the information about the drug 'Niclosamide' as a possible cure for coronavirus in its annual report for the financial year 2020-21, filed with markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). India has recorded over 28 million cases to date -- second only to the US -- and is now the epicentre of the global pandemic. The country has also recorded more than 300,000 deaths, the third-highest fatality count in the world, behind the US and Brazil. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive on January 16, the country is currently facing an acute shortage of jabs.  Serum Institute-produced Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield and local company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to citizens. Covishield is also being used in Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Moreover, in view of the ongoing pandemic, Reliance has decided to pay full salaries for five years to the families of employees who succumbed to Covid-19, and put in place a liberal leave policy for the serving staff affected by coronavirus. In a statement, the conglomerate has said that under the 'Reliance Family Support and Welfare Scheme', it would fully fund tuition fees, hostel accommodation and books of all the children of the deceased employees, up to graduation. Reliance has also promised 100 percent payment of premium for hospitalisation coverage for the spouse, parents and children of those employees."Further, all colleagues affected by Covid-19 personally or within their family can avail the special Covid-19 leave for the full duration of their recovery, both physically and emotionally," according to the statement signed by Mukesh and his wife Nita. The second richest person in Asia and the 14th richest in the world, Mukesh's current net worth is around USD 78 billion. His Reliance Group is now India's most valuable company by market capitalisation. UNB had earlier reported about Mukesh's rumoured plans to hand over three core business areas of Reliance Industries to his three children -- Akash, Isha and Anant -- and also about his aggressive fundraising spree to make his conglomerate debt-free amid the pandemic. The fundraising spree was aimed at reducing Reliance's dependence on the flagship oil sector to diversify into telecom and e-commerce. Last year, Reliance raised USD 15.2 billion by selling stakes in its telecom unit Jio and another USD 7 billion through rights issue. The digital news outlet had also reported about Reliance's plans to take its telecom arm Jio public in the 2021-22 fiscal, riding on the increased digital adoption across the world, in the wake of Covid. India's internet users are likely to grow to 850 million by 2022.

The Covid-19 situation is worsening around the world with each passing the day, despite mass vaccinations. In fact, the total global corona caseload is fast approaching 165 million. The total cases and fatalities reached 164,610,815 and 3, 412,920, respectively, on Thursday morning, as per the latest data released by Johns Hopkins University (JHU). So far, some 1,535,026, 536 vaccine doses have been administered around the world, according to the university. The Covid-19 cases in the US, the worst-hit country in the world, exceeded 33 million on Thursday. The total caseload and deaths in the country now stand at 32,026,131 and 587,858, respectively, as per JHU. Read: India’s Covid-19 hot spots on recovery road India has been experiencing a precarious situation of handling the Covid-19 situation as the country has registered 25,496,330 cases with 283,248 deaths to date. Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, following the United States and India. The country has logged 15,812,055 cases and 441,691 deaths, as of Thursday. Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh on Wednesday reported 37 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, taking the national count to 12,248. The mortality rate though remains static at 1.56%. Besides, the country saw 1,608 new cases as 20,538 samples were tested during the 24-hour period, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. Read: icddr,b donates essential medical supplies to DMCH for treating critically ill COVID patients The infection rate rose to 7.83% from Tuesday’s 7.55%. Vaccination drive In the past 24 hours, not a single citizen in the country received the first dose of the vaccine. However, 64,377 people received the second dose during the period. The administering of the first dose has remained suspended since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to an acute shortage of the same amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India. Read:Govt approves proposal to import Sinofarm vaccine Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses acquired from India's Serum Institute.  

Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities are nearing another grim milestone even as deaths from the virus infection slow down. The health authorities reported 38 more Covid-19-related deaths in 24 hours until Monday morning, bringing the total number of fatalities to 11,972. However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent for the last four days, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, 1,514 new cases were detected after testing 16,848 samples, pushing up the total case count to 7,75,027. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,647,742 tests. The daily infection rate rose to 8.99 percent from 8.19 percent a day ago. Also read: Covid-19 crisis: PM Hasina reiterates firm solidarity with India After a massive upsurge, the number of daily cases fell below 2,000 since May 1. However, the number of tests as well as new cases has declined from May 4, according to corona.gov.bd. According to the DGHS, 2,115 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.90%.  The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. Dhaka worst-hit region Dhaka has remained the worst-hit region in the country, recording 6,937 fatalities or 57.94% of the total deaths until now. Fifteen of the 38 virus-related deaths recorded today are from Dhaka and 11 from Chattogram. Indian Coronavirus strain The first case of Indian Coronavirus strain was detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). It was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published in Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said IEDCR's chief scientific officer ASM Alamgir. Also read: Global Covid-19 cases near 158 million Extended lockdown A lockdown imposed on April 4 has been extended until May 16 as the government grapples with the coronavirus situation. But people are still indifferent towards health guidelines and safety rules. The government has ordered the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions 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 a Cabinet Division notification. Inter-district transport services have remained closed while intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines. Launch and train services remain off. But the restrictions could not deter people from travelling to their village homes ignoring health risks. Vaccination drive Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute. The government 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. 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 within May. Dwindling vaccine stock The DGHS on May 5 said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling as there are only 1.4 million jabs left with no sign of a fresh consignment of doses from India. DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive before the existing stock is exhausted. Vaccine expected from China, US Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has officially announced that 5,00,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has recently written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking vaccine doses for immediate and long-term needs. The government has sought immediate release of 2-4 million doses from the US and a total of 10 to 20 million doses of vaccine for the long-term supply. Also read: Keep up efforts to procure Covid vaccines: Standing committee on Foreign Ministry Vaccine production With India slapping a ban on the export of AstraZeneca vaccines made by Serum, 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 day after approving the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.

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.

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. “We’re expecting it (vaccine) much,” Dr Momen told reporters at his residence adding that Bangladesh Ambassador to US M Shahidul Islam is in touch with the officials concerned of the US government. Also Read: Dhaka hopeful of getting vaccine doses from China before Eid The Foreign Minister said US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller is likely to meet him on Thursday to have an update on the overall issues, including oxygen supply to Bangladesh. “But we’ve heard that their priority is India and Brazil as many people died in these two countries recently,” he said. Dr Momen said the Indian diaspora is strongly lobbying with the US government so that the US sends a whole lot of vaccine doses to India. “They’re very powerful. One lady is taking the lead.” He also requested the Bangladeshi diaspora to approach the US government so that they feel the urgency with communication from all sides.  Dr Momen said the United States assured the world of making Covid-19 vaccines available for other countries, including in Bangladesh, once they have surplus reaching the level of mass vaccination in the US. “I can assure you when we can reach the level of the critical mass vaccination and we’ve surplus, we’ll absolutely make vaccines available in whatever different ways,” said John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate told reporters during his recent visit to Bangladesh. Dr Momen said they had received proposals from other sources like receiving vaccines from some European countries which they are not using. Also Read: Local pharma seeks permission to bring Moderna vaccine: DGHS DG “But their total amount of available vaccines is very small in size whereas we need 2 lakh vaccines per day,” he said adding that the possibility of that front is not very bright. The Foreign Minister reiterated that the Chinese government is working to start delivering 5 lakh doses of vaccine as a gift before Eid al-Fitr as two dates are mentioned – May 10 or 12. He said Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Li Jiming recently informed them that vaccines will start arriving here before Eid while the Health Minister Zahid Maleque shared a more specific date -- May 10. Responding to a question, the Foreign Minister said the government is not shifting its attention from India as there is an agreement with Serum Institute of India to get 3 crore doses of vaccine.   He said India is yet to reply as Bangladesh sought at least 30 lakh doses of vaccine under the agreement to address the immediate demand in Bangladesh. “We’ll procure vaccines wherever we get those.” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday reaffirmed that the government will procure vaccines at any cost to protect people from coronavirus. "We’re bringing more vaccines, no matter how much money is required; we will bring more vaccines." Bangladesh has received 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. This is the largest amount sent from India to any country.  Also Read: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina The Foreign Minister said Russia is very interested to give vaccines to Bangladesh and sent documents to have a government-to-government agreement.  “They shared their issues. Our Health Ministry will share their points,” Dr Momen said he had a conversation with Health Minister Zahid Maleque, especially wanting to know what will be the penalty if they fail to deliver vaccines timely after signing an agreement.