Vaccination drive
India COVID-19 tally rises to 26,530,132, daily deaths fall below 4,000
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 26,530,132 with 240,842 new cases registered in the past 24 hours, said the federal Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.
Besides, as many as 3,741 deaths since Saturday morning took the death toll to 299,266. After two days, the number of daily deaths has once again fell below-4,000 mark.
There are still 2,805,399 active cases in the country, with a decrease of 118,001 cases in the past 24 hours. The number of daily active cases has been on the decline over the past few days, after a continuous surge since mid-April.
Read:Covid-19: Why ‘world’s pharmacy’ India is short on shots
A total of 23,425,467 people has been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country.
In a bid to curb the COVID-19 cases' graph, most of the states in the country have imposed night curfews and partial or complete lockdowns.
India's nationwide vaccination drive was kicked off on Jan. 16, and over 195 million vaccination doses (195,004,184) have been administered to the people across the country.
A total of 1,604,542 vaccine doses were given on Saturday alone.
Presently the third phase of COVID-19 vaccination is going on, covering all people aged 18 years and above. Though, an acute shortage of vaccines is being felt across the country.
Read:India suffers double blow as black fungus declared epidemic amid COVID-19 surge
Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, as over 328 million tests have been conducted so far.
As many as 328,607,937 tests were conducted till Saturday, out of which 2,123,782 tests were conducted on Saturday alone, said the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on Sunday.
Three types of vaccines are being administered to the people in India, including the Covishield, the Covaxin, and the Russia-made Sputnik-V.
Covid-19: Bangladesh again sees steep rise in deaths, new cases
Bangladesh on Wednesday witnessed 37 more Covid-19 related deaths in 24 hours until Wednesday morning.
The death tally now stands at 12,248 while the mortality rate remains static at 1.56%.
Besides, the country saw 1,608 new cases with an increased number of tests as 20,538 samples were tested during the period, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The infection rate rose to 7.83% from Tuesday’s 7.55%.
Also read: Govt approves proposal to import Sinofarm vaccine
The country reported 30 deaths from the virus on Tuesday and 32 on Monday.
Among the latest fatalities, 24 are men and 13 are women.
Russia lags behind others in its COVID-19 vaccination drive
While at the Park House shopping mall in northern Moscow, Vladimir Makarov saw it was offering the coronavirus vaccine to customers, so he asked how long it would take.
“It turned out it’s simple here — 10 minutes,” he said of his experience last month.
But Makarov, like many Muscovites, still decided to put off getting the Sputnik V shot.
Read Also: First batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine delivered to India
Russia boasted last year of being first in the world to authorize a coronavirus vaccine, but it now finds itself lagging in getting its population immunized. That has cast doubt on whether authorities will reach their ambitious goal of vaccinating more than 30 million of country’s 146 million people by mid-June and nearly 69 million by August.
The vaccine reluctance comes as shots are readily available in the capital to anyone 18 or older at more than 200 state and private clinics, shopping malls, food courts, hospitals — even a theater.
As of mid-April, over 1 million of Moscow’s 12.7 million residents, or about 8%, have received at least one shot, even though the campaign began in December.
That percentage is similar for Russia as a whole. Through April 27, only 12.1 million people have gotten at least one shot and only 7.7 million, or 5%, have been fully vaccinated. That puts Russia far behind the U.S., where 43% have gotten at least one shot, and the European Union with nearly 27%.
Data analyst Alexander Dragan, who tracks vaccinations across Russia, said last week the country was giving shots to 200,000-205,000 people a day. In order to hit the mid-June target, it needs to be nearly double that.
“We need to start vaccinating 370,000 people a day, like, beginning tomorrow,” Dragan told The Associated Press.
To boost demand, Moscow officials began offering coupons worth 1,000 rubles ($13) to those over 60 who get vaccinated — not a small sum for those receiving monthly pensions of about 20,000 rubles ($260).
Still, it hasn’t generated much enthusiasm. Some elderly Muscovites told AP it was difficult to register online for the coupons or find grocery stores that accepted them.
Other regions also are offering incentives. Authorities in Chukotka, across the Bering Strait from Alaska, promised seniors 2,000 rubles for getting vaccinated, while the neighboring Magadan region offered 1,000 rubles. A theater in St. Petersburg offered discounted tickets for those presenting a vaccination certificate.
Read Also: Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines
Russia’s lagging vaccination rates hinge on several factors, including supply. Russian drug makers have been slow to ramp up mass production, and there were shortages in March in many regions.
So far, only 28 million two-dose sets of all three vaccines available in Russia have been produced, with Sputnik V accounting for most of them, and only 17.4 million have been released into circulation after undergoing quality control.
Waiting lists for the shot remain long in places. In the Sverdlovsk region, the fifth most-populous in Russia, 178,000 people were on a wait list by mid-April, regional Deputy Health Minister Yekaterina Yutyaeva told AP.
On April 28, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are enough vaccines available in Russia, adding that demand was the defining factor in the country’s vaccination rate.
Another factor in Russians’ reluctance over Sputnik V was the fact that it was rolled out even as large-scale testing to ensure its safety and efficacy was still ongoing. But a study published in February in the British medical journal The Lancet said the vaccine appeared safe and highly effective against COVID-19, according to a trial involving about 20,000 people in Russia.
A poll in February by Russia’s top independent pollster, the Levada Center, showed that only 30% of respondents were willing to get Sputnik V, one of three domestically produced vaccines available. The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Dragan, the data analyst, says one possible explanation for the reluctance is the narrative from authorities that they have tamed the outbreak, even if that assessment might be premature.
With most virus restrictions lifted and government officials praising the Kremlin’s pandemic response, few have motivation to get the shot, he said, citing an attitude of, “If the outbreak is over, why would I get vaccinated?”
Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, echoed Dragan’s sentiment and also pointed to inconsistent signals from officials and media.
Read Also: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine
“Russians in 2020 were bombarded with contradictory messages — first about (the coronavirus) not being dangerous and being just a cold, then that it was a deadly infection,” he told AP. “Then they were banned from leaving their homes.”
Another narrative, he said, was that foreign vaccines were dangerous but Russian-produced ones were not. State TV reported adverse reactions linked to Western vaccines while celebrating Sputnik V’s international success.
A proper media campaign promoting vaccinations didn’t begin on state TV until late March, observers and news reports note. Videos on the Channel 1 national network featured celebrities and other public figures talking about their experience but didn’t show them getting injected. President Vladimir Putin said he received the shot about the same time, but not on camera.
“Fruitful ground for conspiracy theorists,” said Dragan, who also works in marketing.
Rumors about the alleged dangers of vaccines actually surged on social media in December, when Russia began administering the shots, and have continued steadily since then, said social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova.
The rumors combined with other factors — the pseudoscience on Russian TV, vaccine distribution problems and an uneven rollout of the promotional campaign — to hamper the immunization drive, Arkhipova told AP.
Vlassov, meanwhile, noted the outbreak in Russia is far from over, and there even are signs it is growing.
“Roughly the same number of people get infected every day in Russia now as last May, at the peak of the outbreak,” he said, adding that twice as many people are dying every day than a year ago.
Government statistics say infections have stayed at about 8,000-9,000 per day nationwide, with 300-400 deaths recorded daily. But new cases have been steadily increasing in Moscow in the past month, exceeding 3,000 last week for the first time since January.
Read Also: Russia orders troop pullback but keeps weapons near Ukraine
Infection rates are growing in seven regions, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on April 23, without identifying them. She blamed “insufficient vaccination rates” in some places.
And yet, the abundance of vaccines in Moscow has attracted foreigners who can’t get the shot at home. A group of Germans got their first jab at their hotel last month.
Uwe Keim, 46-year-old software developer from Stuttgart, told AP he believes “there are more vaccines available here in Russia than is demanded by the people here.”
Global Covid cases top 145 million
The Covid-19 situation is worsening around the world by the day, even with mass inoculations underway. The overall number of corona cases has now topped 145 million.
As of Saturday morning, the total case count and fatalities stand at 145,289,885 3,083,440, respectively. The latest figures have been released by Johns Hopkins University.
To date, the US has logged 31,991,750 cases, with 571,197 fatalities, as per the university data.
With the rate of Covid-19 deaths soaring in the past two weeks, Brazil on Friday reported 2,914 fatalities in 24 hours, raising the national toll to 386,416.
Also read: Global Covid-19 cases cross 144 million
According to the country's Health Ministry, 14,237,078 people in Brazil have so far tested positive for the virus, after tests detected 69,105 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours.
India has so far registered 16,263,695 cases and 186,920 deaths, according to the country's Health Ministry.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh recorded 88 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Friday morning, as the country grapples to tackle the second wave of the virus.
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: Global Covid-19 cases near 144 million
Health authorities have so far confirmed 739,703 cases. Among them, 647,674 people -- 87.56 percent of all patients -- have recovered.
A rise in infection prompted the government to go for a lockdown from early April but it turned out to be lax. From April 11, the government imposed a ‘strict lockdown’ and later extended it to April 28.
On Friday, the government allowed shopping malls to open from April 25.
UNICEF envoy David Beckham leads global vaccination drive during Immunization Week
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founder of the 7 Fund for UNICEF, David Beckham, is fronting a global initiative to inspire confidence in vaccines and encourage parents around the world to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases.
In a video released ahead of World Immunization Week, Beckham talks about the loss of everyday activities due to COVID-19, such as hugs with family, spending time with friends, and being with the people we love, and encourages parents to vaccinate themselves so that they can be safe.
He also urges families to ensure that their children are receiving routine vaccinations to protect them against diseases such as diphtheria, measles and polio.
“In the last year, COVID-19 has shown us how much we take for granted but it has also reminded us about the power of vaccines,” said Beckham.
“Vaccines work, saving millions of lives every year. I have learned through my work with UNICEF just how important they are for the health of our loved ones. Yet too many children around the world don’t get the routine vaccines they need to be safe from deadly diseases. That’s why this World Immunization Week, I’m so proud to be joining UNICEF and partners to encourage parents to vaccinate themselves and their children.”
Also read: Covid vaccine: UNICEF emphasises speed, simplicity to remove barriers
Alongside Beckham, UNICEF Ambassadors and supporters Orlando Bloom, Sofia Carson, Olivia Colman, Angelique Kidjo, Jeremy Lin, Alyssa Milano, Jessie Ware and others will take part in a series of online conversations about vaccines, including with health care workers, teachers and vaccine experts from around the world.
The frontline workers from Benin, Indonesia, Jordan and Peru will share their knowledge and first-hand experience of the importance of vaccinating children against deadly diseases.
To help spread the word online about the effectiveness of vaccines, starting today, UNICEF will join with global partners and funders to rally parents, health workers and the public to become online advocates for vaccines.
For every like, share or comment on posts mentioning a UNICEF social media account and using the hashtag #VaccinesWork from now until the end of April, the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will donate US$ 1 to UNICEF – up to a total of US$5 million – to ensure all children get the life-saving vaccines they need.
Also read: COVID-19 vaccine distribution: Emirates joins with UNICEF
“After a year of lockdowns, empty classrooms, missed vaccinations, virtual birthday parties, and cancelled family dinners, people all over the world are now getting a COVID-19 vaccine or anxiously awaiting the moment when they will. And it’s an important reminder of the critical role other vaccines play in allowing us to live our everyday lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“Whereas today we all know COVID-19 vaccines are the best hope we have of resuming our normal lives, what remains ‘normal’ for far too many children all over the world is no access to vaccines for any preventable diseases whatsoever. This is not a ‘normal’ to which we should return.”
Every year, 14 million infants and children globally do not receive any vaccines against preventable diseases, with many living in remote rural locations, conflict zones or slum settings and without access to other essential health services, said UNICEF.
In the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has made this situation even more dire, as pandemic-related lockdowns and supply disruptions threaten a devastating rise in preventable child deaths.
Also read: China ramps up vaccination drive with free eggs, other goods
World Immunization Week – celebrated every year in the last week of April – aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease.
Using the theme ‘Vaccines bring us closer’, World Immunization Week 2021 will urge greater engagement around immunization globally to promote the importance of vaccination in bringing people together, and improving the health and wellbeing of everyone, everywhere, throughout life.
Online conversations with UNICEF Ambassadors will be shared on Facebook and Instagram and also available to download here throughout World Immunization Week.
Covid-19: Bangladesh records 88 deaths, 3629 new cases
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.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Death toll hits another new high of 102
Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning.
It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in a 24-hour period.
The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily.
With fewer tests, the number of new cases remained low at 3,698 but the infection rate was at 19.06 percent, down from 21.46 percent on Saturday.
On Sunday, 19,404 samples were tested. The number was 34,630 on April 7 when the country recorded its highest single-day cases of 7,626.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far.
Deadliest weeks
April has been the most devastating month so far, with 1,339 deaths and 104,182 new cases.
More people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 20 days than in the last 10 months.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Also read: South Asia fast becoming new global epicentre of Covid-19: IFRC
Last year’s months-long ‘general holiday’ helped curb the virus’ transmission and keep the fatalities low but people have since shown reluctance to adhere to health rules. The lackadaisical attitude has been blamed for the worsening coronavirus situation.
China ramps up vaccination drive with free eggs, other goods
China’s success at controlling the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a population that has seemed almost reluctant to get vaccinated. So it is accelerating its inoculation campaign by offering incentives — free eggs, store coupons and discounts on groceries and merchandise — to those getting a shot.
After a slow start, China is now giving millions of shots a day. On March 26 alone, it administered 6.1 million shots. A top government doctor, Zhong Nanshan, has announced a June goal of vaccinating 560 million of the country’s 1.4 billion people.
The challenge lies partly in the sheer scale of the effort and the need to convince a population that currently feels safe from infections.
When patients first showed up at hospitals in Wuhan in late 2019 with fevers, coughs and breathing difficulties, the government locked down the city and others in Hubei province for more than two months starting in January 2020. Wuhan later became known as the epicenter of the outbreak.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
Since then, China has controlled the virus through stringent border controls and quick lockdowns whenever new outbreaks crop up. People can dine out in restaurants and the risk of infection is low, so many don’t seem to be in a hurry to get the vaccine.
“I think everyone has a sense of security and comfort, and there’s no big rush to get vaccinated unless you are asked to do so,” said Helen Chen, a health care specialist at a market research firm in Shanghai.
But China also wants to open up as the world seeks to return to pre-pandemic normalcy and Beijing readies to welcome tens of thousands of visitors as host of the Winter Olympics in February 2022. While successful with swift lockdowns and a robust contact tracing system via smartphones, the government is also weighing those measures in balance with an eventual return to normalcy.
For now, in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing, the government has relied mostly on sustained messaging and freebies to convince people to get vaccinated.
Shopping malls have offered points at stores or coupons. A temple in Beijing offered free entry to anyone showing proof of vaccination. Shanghai is using buses in its campaign to set up mobile vaccination points.
And then there are the free eggs.
“Good news. Starting from today, residents 60 years old and above who have gotten their first shot are eligible for five ‘jin’ (2.5 kilograms or 5 1/2 pounds) of eggs. First come, first serve,” said a poster by a city-run health center in Beijing.
Also read: Denmark stops AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Wang Feng was too young for the eggs from the clinic, but the 25-year-old chef said he got the vaccine anyway because he could not go to work without it.
“I thought if it worked, then might as well,” he added.
Some people have expressed doubts about how good the existing vaccines are, Chinese or not, given how quickly they were developed.
“I don’t think such an effective vaccine can be made so quickly,” said Amy Lu, who works in a university in Shanghai.
The five vaccines currently being used in China have an efficacy range of 50.7% to 79.3%, based on what the companies have said. That doesn’t mean they have no value — most experts say that anything above 50% is useful getting the pandemic under control, along with preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“Even if everyone gets two doses, you may not be able to achieve herd immunity.” said Wang Chenguang, a former professor at Peking Union Medical College and an immunology expert. Herd immunity occurs when enough of the population has immunity, either from vaccinations or past infection, to stop the uncontrolled spread of an infectious disease.
China may need to vaccinate at least 1 billion people to achieve that, said Wang Huaqing, a top immunology official with China’s Center for Disease Control, in an interview with state media this week. As of early April, roughly 34 million people had received two shots and about 65 million got one dose.
Gao Fu, the head of the CDC, said last weekend that China is considering various strategies such as mixing different vaccines to try to increase effectiveness. Outside experts say China could eventually deploy other, more effective vaccines, such as the Pfizer or Moderna shots.
“The best thing to do is to actually allow the use of other better vaccines and make them to be available to the Chinese people, but that’s probably very challenging politically,” said Jin Dong-yan, an expert on vaccines at the University of Hong Kong’s medical school.
Chinese drugmaker Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has partnered with Germany’s BioNTech to sell the Pfizer vaccine in China. However, it has only been approved in Hong Kong and Macao, special territories in China with their own regulatory agencies. A clinical trial for mainland approval is underway.
Vaccination is supposed to be voluntary, but overzealous efforts by some local governments and companies prompted health officials to issue a warning this week against forced vaccinations.
Also read: South Asian Govts must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines: AI
A hospital in Danzhou on the southern island province of Hainan issued an apology after it issued a notice to staff saying, “Those who are not vaccinated could be fired.”
In Zhejiang province, an April 2 announcement said all government departments, Communist Party cadres and people working in universities would be required to take the lead in getting shots.
The national government also required vaccination for all residents in Ruili, a border town with Myanmar, because of a recent outbreak.
Getting vaccinated can also mean being able to avoid some of the more onerous obstacles that some local institutions have set up in the name of pandemic control.
Beijing student Bright Li said he got vaccinated so he would no longer need approval to leave campus. Although barely enforced, Li became concerned after the university put up posters publicly denouncing a student who left campus without permission last winter after that student had gone to an area with a confirmed COVID-19 case.
The vaccine drive has run into scattered shortages and delays.
In Haikou, the capital of Hainan, health authorities issued a temporary stay on providing a second shot to those not involved with two major upcoming events, “owing to relative tightness” in the vaccine supply. Shortages were also reported in two southern cities, Foshan in Guangdong Province and the port of Xiamen in Fujian province.
China’s vaccine makers have expanded production capacity massively, and health officials say they are confident demand can be met by the end of the year.
Efforts underway to accelerate vaccine delivery to poorer nations
A two-month investment opportunity has been launched to accelerate the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to 92 low- and middle-income economies through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).
The United States government has already contributed an initial $2 billion to Gavi in support of COVAX -- the largest single country contribution -- and will contribute an additional $2 billion through 2022, according to the US Department of State.
The US and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, on Thursday applauded new partner commitments to accelerate global access to Covid-19 vaccines, including more than $300 million in financial contributions as well as in-kind donations, including millions of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to be shared by COVAX.
At an event hosted by the US and Gavi, US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken and USAID Acting Administrator Gloria Steele applauded other countries that have made and delivered pledges and urged all partners to do more to end the pandemic.
The US recognises that as long as Covid-19 is spreading and generating new variants anywhere, it poses a threat to people everywhere.
Also read: Asian shares mixed as vaccine wait tempers Wall St optimism
Secretary Blinken expressed that "in addition to our planned contributions to Gavi totaling $4 billion, the US is prepared to provide further assistance to support the global Covid response".
He called on partners to work alongside Gavi to support urgent vaccine manufacturing, supply, and delivery needs.
At the “One World Protected” virtual event, presentations took stock of progress to date to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, made the investment case for contributions to COVAX, and encouraged countries and the private sector to make new commitments.
COVAX is an initiative co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), with an aim to equitably deliver safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines on a global scale.
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports highest ever single-day deaths with 96
Bangladesh reported 96 deaths during a 24-hour period until Wednesday morning, shattering all of its previous single-day death counts.
The latest fatalities pushed up the local tally to 9,987 since the first death was reported on March 18 last year, a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. The mortality rate stood at 1.42 percent.
However, the number of daily cases fell to 5,185 from Tuesday’s 6,028. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8. Since then, 703,170 cases have been confirmed.
The country has conducted 5,095,613 covid tests, including 24,825 new ones, since the beginning of the outbreak.
Also read: Fresh lockdown in Bangladesh: Experts skeptical about having any great result
The daily infection rate stood at 20.89 percent.
So far, the health authorities reported 591,299 recoveries (84.09 percent), including 5,333 in the last 24 hours.
Daily cases fall, body count rises
Bangladesh saw a spike in the number of daily cases in recent days that was followed by record single-day death counts.
On Wednesday, the country registered its highest number of deaths from the virus for the fourth time in five days. The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday.
Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Hospitals overflowing
The steady rise in new cases put severe pressure on the health system which is struggling to accommodate so many patients.
Of the 96 deaths reported, 94 had died at hospitals and two at home.
Hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in Dhaka and elsewhere are running out of general and ICU beds.
Hospitals in Dhaka metropolitan area have 4,286 general beds and 59 ICU beds. Of them, only 526 general and 12 ICU beds are available, according to DGHS data.
Also read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
Overall, there are 10,614 general beds for treating coronavirus patients in the country and more than half of them (5,688) are occupied.
There are 792 ICU beds in total but only 137 are available at the moment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her new year address, said the ICU facilities are being increased and the areas of coronavirus patient treatment are being expanded.
She said steps have been taken for uninterrupted oxygen supply in public specialised hospitals.
Emphasis on health guidelines
People’s apathy towards health rules has been blamed as one of the main reasons for the sudden rise in coronavirus cases. The infection rate had fallen below 5 percent earlier this year.
Repeated requests of the health experts and the government fell on deaf ears. The people carried on as usual, hardly sticking to basic health rules as they continued to throng shopping malls, places of entertainment and other public gatherings.
Sheikh Hasina urged everyone to be careful and ensure protection for themselves, their family members and neighbours.
“Gatherings have to be avoided and everyone should wear a mask when going outside,” she said. “If everyone follows health guidelines, it’ll be possible to keep the pandemic under control, Inshallah.”