The overall number of Covid cases has crossed 567 million amid a rise in new infections in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 567,275,561 and the death toll reached 6,387,063 Sunday morning. The US has recorded 91,250,392 cases so far and 1,048,822 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows. India on Saturday recorded over 20,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day, officials said. According to federal health ministry data released on Saturday morning, 20,044 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 43,730,071. With the new infections, India's active caseload stands currently at 140,760. The South Asian country also logged 56 deaths from the pandemic during the cited period, bringing the death toll to 525,660 since the beginning of the pandemic. Also read: 25 million kids missed routine vaccinations because of COVID Bangladesh Covid situation Five more people died from Covid in the country and 1,007 others tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours till Saturday morning.  With the latest figures, the country's total fatalities reached 29,230 while the caseload to 1,995,440, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The daily case positivity rate rose to 13.70 per cent from Friday’s 11.55 per cent as 7,351 samples were tested. The mortality rate declined to 1.46 per cent. The recovery rate rose to 96.37 per cent from Friday's 96.32 per cent. In June, the country reported 18 Covid-linked deaths and 20,201 new cases, according to the DGHS. Bangladesh reported its first zero Covid death on November 20 last year since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020. The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.    

Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. On Dec. 8, 2020, a retired shop clerk in England received the first shot in what would become a global vaccination campaign. Over the next 12 months, more than 4.3 billion people around the world lined up for the vaccines. The effort, though marred by persisting inequities, prevented deaths on an unimaginable scale, said Oliver Watson of Imperial College London, who led the new modeling study. Read: WTO holds big meeting to tackle vaccines, food shortages “Catastrophic would be the first word that comes to mind,” Watson said of the outcome if vaccines hadn't been available to fight the coronavirus. The findings “quantify just how much worse the pandemic could have been if we did not have these vaccines." The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. An additional 600,000 deaths would have been prevented if the World Health Organization target of 40% vaccination coverage by the end of 2021 had been met, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. The main finding — 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented — is based on estimates of how many more deaths than usual occurred during the time period. Using only reported COVID-19 deaths, the same model yielded 14.4 million deaths averted by vaccines. The London scientists excluded China because of uncertainty around the pandemic’s effect on deaths there and its huge population. The study has other limitations. The researchers did not include how the virus might have mutated differently in the absence of vaccines. And they did not factor in how lockdowns or mask wearing might have changed if vaccines weren’t available. Another modeling group used a different approach to estimate that 16.3 million COVID-19 deaths were averted by vaccines. That work, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, has not been published. Read: COVID-19: Urgent action sought to close vaccine equity gap In the real world, people wear masks more often when cases are surging, said the institute's Ali Mokdad, and 2021's delta wave without vaccines would have prompted a major policy response. “We may disagree on the number as scientists, but we all agree that COVID vaccines saved lots of lives," Mokdad said. The findings underscore both the achievements and the shortcomings of the vaccination campaign, said Adam Finn of Bristol Medical School in England, who like Mokdad was not involved in the study. “Although we did pretty well this time — we saved millions and millions of lives — we could have done better and we should do better in the future," Finn said. Funding came from several groups including the WHO; the UK Medical Research Council; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday told the Parliament that Bangladesh received a total of 115 million Covid-19 vaccines free of cost under the Covax facilities. “Bangladesh has so far got a total of 295 million Covid vaccines. Of these, 180 million vaccines were procured and we got the remaining doses free under the Covax facilities,” he said, replying to a supplementary question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujibul Haque (Kishoreganj-3). In reply to a scripted question from Treasury Bench lawmaker Ali Azam (Bhola-2), the minister said the government has a plan to vaccinate 80 per cent people of the country and all nationals aged above 5 will come under the Covid inoculation coverage. Also read: Bangladesh number 1 recipient of COVID-19 vaccines under COVAX: UNICEF As of June 01, the people were given a total of 12,87,73,436 first doses of Covid-19 vaccines, 11,76,45,371 second shots and 1,52,89,610 booster doses, he said adding that some 2,43,918 doses were given to the floating people. Responding to a starred question from Awami League MP Nurunnabi Chowdhury (Bhola-3), the health minister said the government suspended the production licenses of 46 drug companies from January 2021 to November 2021 for the sale of adulterated, substandard and expired medicines. The 46 companies include 17 homeopathic companies, 14 ayurvedic, six yunani, five allopathic and four herbal ones. The mobile courts filed a total of 2,036 cases and materialized over Tk 26.7 million as fine for the same offenses in 2021, he said. Also read: Declare vaccines as global goods, Hasina urges World Health Assembly Besides, 91 cases were filed in the magistrate courts and 21 other cases were lodged in the drug courts in this regard, said the Minister.

Bangladesh is the first among the South Asian countries to have successfully tackled the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Sunday, a day after more than one crore people got their first shots under a special nationwide drive. Maleque said this while speaking as special guest at the orientation programme of 42nd BCS Cadre at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports below 1000 cases after 52 days He said during the special drive on Saturday a total of 1.20 people were administered Covid vaccines, 1.11 crore of them receiving the first dose overshooting the target set by the government. The target was to inoculate one crore people with the first Covid dose.

Bangladesh logged five more Covid-linked deaths along with 291 fresh cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning. With the latest cases, the daily-case positivity rate increased again to 1.45 per cent from Monday’s 1.44 per cent, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Read: No Covid lockdown right now in Bangladesh: Health Minister With the fresh numbers, the total fatalities rose to 28,010 while the caseload mounted to 15,78,011. Among the latest deceased, four were men and one was a woman. Four deaths were reported from Dhaka division while one was from Chattogram division. However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 per cent during the period. The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,868 samples, amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus. Besides, the recovery rate slightly increased to 97.78 per cent with the recovery of 308 more patients during the 24-hour period. On November 20, Bangladesh logged this year’s first zero Covid-linked death with 178 cases. Bangladesh reported the highest number of daily fatalities of 264 on August 5 this year, while the highest daily caseload was 16,230 on July 28 this year. Read: Students may lose around $17 trillion in lifetime earnings for Covid learning loss: Report Of the 113 deaths recorded from November 1 to November 30, 12.4 per cent received Covid vaccines while 87.6 per cent did not, the DGHS mentioned. So far, 3,84,97,417 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 6,53,07,376 received the first dose as of Monday, according to the DGHS. Among them, 1,39,802 students, aged from 12-17, have fully been vaccinated while 9,70,160 students received the first dose so far.

Bangladesh recorded six more Covid-linked deaths and 266 fresh infections in 24 hours till Wednesday morning. The daily-case positivity rate increased to 1.35 per cent from Tuesday’s 1.03 per cent. The fresh numbers took the total fatalities to 27,934 while the country’s caseload mounted to 15,73,214, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Read: Pfizer asks US officials to OK promising COVID-19 pill Among the deceased, two were men and the remaining four women. Dhaka division logged two Covid-related deaths, Sylhet division three while Rajshahi division one on Wednesday, said the DGHS. However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.78 per cent. The fresh cases were detected after testing 19,648 samples, the DGHS added. Besides, the recovery rate remained unchanged at 97.71 per cent with the recovery of 257 more patients during the 24-hour period. Read: Pfizer agrees to let other companies make its COVID-19 pill On the 45th epidemiological week of pandemic, of the 27 deaths recorded from November 08 to November 14, 11.1 per cent received Covid vaccines while 88.9 per cent did not, the DGHS mentioned. Comorbidities among Covid patients and deceased declined 11.1 per cent this week compared to the previous one. Comorbidity means the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient. So far, 3,37,35,763 people have fully been vaccinated in the country while 5,25,07,248 received the first dose as of Tuesday, according to the DGHS.

Bangladesh has called for universal and affordable access to Covid vaccines to ensure an equitable and sustainable global recovery from the ravages of the pandemic. Echoing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent remarks at the UN General Assembly, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Rabab Fatima said that "sharing the vaccine technology with the capable developing countries" for boosting jab production could ensure vaccine equity. Read:Bangladesh trade facilitation initiative launched Ambassador Fatima made the remarks while addressing the General Debate of the Second Committee of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the General Assembly Hall on Wednesday.  The Second Committee adopted the theme, 'Crisis, Resilience and Recovery- Accelerating Progress towards the 2030 Agenda' for its debate this year against the backdrop of the double jeopardy of the pandemic and global climate change.  The theme aims to promote bold and ambitious global roadmap for sustainable and resilient recovery from the pandemic and for the achievement of 2030 agenda in a timely manner.  Mentioning the recent initiatives taken by the global community for tackling the challenges posed by climate change, Ambassador Fatima emphasised on building up on the momentum to achieve bold and ambitious outcomes during the upcoming Climate and Biodiversity COPs.  Read: 2 lakh AstraZeneca doses to reach Dhaka from Maldives Wednesday

The global leaders have pledged financing, dose donations, support for country readiness and delivery, and scale-up of global manufacturing to enable equitable access to Covid vaccines. To improve access for the lower-income economies, the US will contribute an additional 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, to be delivered through COVAX, beginning in 2022. Sweden will provide an additional $243 million through 2021 and 2022. New dose commitments from the European Union, including Italy and Spain, as well as Sweden, Denmark, and Japan mean further doses will be available to COVAX participants in 2021 and 2022. Global leaders made the commitment while attending the Global Covid-19 Summit hosted by the US Thursday. They underlined their commitment to ensuring equitable access to Covid vaccines for all countries through COVAX – noting that equitable access is essential to end the acute stage of the pandemic. Building on the momentum and global solidarity generated over the past eighteen months by various commitments, including at summits organised by the European Commission, the G20 under the Saudi and Italian presidencies, the UK, including the G7 under its presidency, the US, and the prime minister of Japan, the summit saw further pledges made to COVAX and equitable access. READ: Declare Covid vaccines as 'global public good': Hasina Alongside these commitments, several countries pledged additional dose donations to be made available to countries around the world, including through COVAX, with Spain pledging an additional 7.5 million doses, Italy pledging an additional 30 million doses to be made available by the end of the year. And Japan, which hosted the "One World Protected" Gavi COVAX AMC Summit in June 2021, pledging approximately 60 million doses. Also, Denmark announced during the United Nations General Assembly this week that it would be doubling its dose donation commitment, bringing the total to 6 million doses pledged to be shared. José Manuel Barroso, chair of the Gavi board, said this summit marks a major step forward in the global response against Covid and a major step forward for multilateralism. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation, said if they are to meet the targets they have set of vaccinating 10% of the population of all countries by the end of this month, 40% by the end of 2021 and 70% by mid-next-year, they need to drastically scale up access to vaccines now. Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore said with only 12% of the pledges made earlier this year turning into actual doses, low-income countries can no longer wait. "We urge dose-sharing countries to accelerate their donation plans." READ: Conduct study to understand vaccine performances, suitability in Bangladesh: Experts    Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, said with the rise of variants and the current gap in equitable access to Covid vaccines they must urgently vaccinate those most at risk everywhere in the world. "We cannot afford further delays in getting vaccines to the most vulnerable – to do so will mean a continuation of this pandemic and its impact on all of our lives." So far COVAX has delivered more than 300 million doses to 142 economies, and according to the latest forecast, approximately 1.2 billion doses will be available for the lower-income economies supported by the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) by the end of 2021. This is enough to protect 20% of the population, or 40% of all adults, in all 92 AMC economies with the exception of India. The key COVAX milestone of 2 billion doses released for delivery is now expected to be reached in the first quarter of 2022.

As Bangladesh is now administering four types of Covid vaccines without joining the trial of anyone, health experts suggest conducting a comprehensive study to know their comparative performances and the longevity of antibodies they produce. They said some small studies have been conducted by different organisations in the country with insignificant sample size, mainly on the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine, but there is no study on other vaccines -- Pfizer, Moderna and Sinopharm. The analysts think an inclusive study will help understand which vaccine is most suitable and effective in Bangladesh as the efficacy of vaccines varies from country to country and race to race. Read India to restart Covid vaccine exports to COVAX, neighbours Besides, the analysts also said a nationwide serosurveillance also should be conducted to know how much people gained natural antibody through Covid infection and its durability as they believe a good portion of the population has already been infected with the virus.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her call to global leaders to declare Covid-19 vaccines as 'global public good' and allow the developing countries and LDCs to produce vaccines that have the capacity. “For effective global vaccination, Covid-19 vaccines need to be declared as ‘global public good’. To guarantee universal access, local production of vaccines by the developing countries and LDCs that have the capacity must be allowed,” she said. The Prime Minister made the call in her prerecorded speech for the ‘White House Global Covid-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better Health Security to prepare For the Next’. US President Joe Biden convened the Summit. Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh took a three-fold approach to fight the pandemic. Those are: Saving lives by allocating adequate medical facilities, equipment, life-saving drugs and resources; Supporting the livelihoods of citizens, especially the most vulnerable groups; and Recovering economic activities back on track as quickly as possible. Read: Hasina woos US investors; offers attractive facilities