US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas on Tuesday highly appreciated the Covid-19 management and vaccination programme of Bangladesh, saying this is a "remarkable efficiency" and "really amazing". He said that US wants to make partnership with Bangladesh in "Global Covid Action Plan" on working out future situation of the pandemic.  "A US-Bangladesh ministerial-level special session, along with other stake holders, would be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly," said Haas. Read: PM Hasina visits British High Commission to pay tribute to Queen "Bangladesh is clearly ahead of the United States in vaccination programmes under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This is really amazing and the efficiency is remarkable," he said. The envoy made these remarks when he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Ganabhaban here. Briefing the press Prime Minister’s Deputy Press Secretary Hasan Jahid Tusher said that Haas appreciated transformation of Bangladesh under the leadership of Hasina saying, "it is really exciting". In this connection, he also mentioned that Bangladesh graduated to a developing nation from LDCs under Hasina's leadership. "It will continue to uplift further," he believed. Regarding the success in tackling Covid-19 pandemic, the premier said her party and associate organisations handled the pandemic situation efficiently from the beginning by working around the clock during which they raised awareness, served the patients and distributed medicines and oxygen.  She said when the vaccine has become available, her government has provided first, second and booster doses free of cost to the people. Now, the government is administering vaccine to the children, she added.  In this connection, she said that she formed a committee under the Prime Minister's office to coordinate with the other ministries and stake holders for handling Covid-19 vaccination scheme, which worked really well.  Read: PM felicitates UK’s new king, looks forward to excellent friendship Sheikh Hasina said that she herself communicated with all at that time. She expressed her sincere gratefulness to the US President Joe Biden for contributing vaccine to Bangladesh. "Please convey my thanks to the President," she told the ambassador. Mentioning that people are suffering due to Covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war and western sanctions, Sheikh Hasina said that they are trying to work for the people with full affordability.   Regarding the graduation from LDC, she said her government, after winning the election in 2008, had taken different measures to uplift Bangladesh to a developing nation. "Despite the setback of Covid-19, Russina-Ukraine war and sanctions, Bangladesh will continue to uplift." To this end, the premier also highlighted the measures taken by her government for the marginalised people in the society in changing their fates. Hasina said that her government is working following the footsteps of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to change the fate of marginalised people. Ambassador-at-large Mohammad Ziauddin and Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus, among others, were present. 

After a vaccination drive at Korail slum in Dhaka, health authorities have started giving Covid jabs to the slum dwellers of Chattogram city on Sunday. Some 2,000 residents of Jhautala slum in Khulshi area will get the jabs under the programme which started around 2 pm, according to the Civil Surgeon’s office. The dwellers of all other slums in the city will be brought under the vaccination programme in phases, it said. Read:Covid jabs for city’s slum dwellers start on Tuesday: Health Minister Apart from the slum dwellers, the third gender  people will also be brought under the vaccination programme, and it will start on Monday. The dwellers of Jhautala slum will be allowed to get vaccinated without registration and the campaign will continue till Thursday. According to the Civil Surgeon office, the vaccination drive will continue till 5 pm, and a three-member medical team is there to provide vaccine doses to the slum dwellers. Dr Ilias Hossain, the District Civil Surgeon, said the Jhautala slum residents will be able to get their Covid shots on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Read:7.5 crore people to be fully vaccinated by Jan: Health Minister Already some 300 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine have been allocated for the transgender people  and the number of doses will be increased depending the number of vaccine seekers. The vaccination drive for the residents of Korail slum in Dhaka started on November 16. According to the slum census conducted by the Bangladesh Statistics Bureau (BSS), in 2014, some 1.28 lakh people are living in 2,216 slums in Chattogram city corporation area.

Holding that 73 crore people of the country's population have received their vaccination, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said vaccination was the only medicine to boost the economy as it allows people to conduct businesses regularly or farmers to carry out farming activity, reports NDTV. "Vaccination programme has been going on smoothly in the country and so far 73 crore people have already received jabs free of charge. Today, through vaccination programme, people were able to conduct business, traders were able to procure products to run businesses, (thereby) boosting economy, or farmers were able to do farming...So, vaccination is the only medicine (to combat the virus, to boost economy)...," she said. Read: India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage surpasses 73.82 Cr Ms Sitharaman made those comments while delivering her address at the centenary celebrations of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank on Sunday. On Sunday, the health ministry in Tamil Nadu eyeing to inoculate 20 lakh people is holding a ''Mega Vaccination Camp'' through 40,000 camps being conducted across the State. "All our prayers are not for a third wave (of the Covid-19 virus). Suppose, if it occurs, then one has to think about the availability of hospitals, even if there is an hospital, does it have an ICU and even if there is an ICU, does it have an oxygen support? For all these questions, the Ministry announced a scheme allowing hospitals to ramp up expansion when there was huge impact in the country caused by the second wave (of Covid-19)," she said. Ms Sitharaman said hospitals located in rural areas were able to take up expansion work by availing the schemes announced by the Ministry, including the "viability gap funding" scheme. "Through the report by Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, we are able to see that they take the schemes announced by the Ministry to the beneficiaries (hospitals). It is a necessary (in today''s scenario). Not only public sector banks, private sector banks should follow suit," she said. Earlier, paying rich encomiums to the Nadar community for establishing the bank in May 1921 in Tuticorin, the Minister said today Tamilnad Mercantile Bank has gained "universal acceptance" and has presence in all the 26 states and four union territories. Read: Indian PM discusses regional stability with Russian Security Council chief Even a famous Greek writer who has written a lot of global economic affairs has also mentioned about the Nadar community in his book, she said. "So today it is no more a Nadar community bank nor a bank from Tuticorin, it has countrywide presence and has deposits of over Rs 41,000 crore.", she said. Stating that the bank has been taking a cautious step in its approach to do business, Ms Sitharaman said "by strictly following the basic principles, the bank was able to tide over any kind of crisis situation and has managed to run for one hundred years."

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday highly praised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's dynamic and successful leadership in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and rolling out a nationwide vaccination programme.

Eighteen more people died of Covid-19 in Bangladesh and another 602 got infected by the deadly virus in the past 24 hours till Monday morning.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami on Saturday reiterated that Bangladesh will receive its supply of the Coronavirus vaccine from an Indian manufacturer “quickly and urgently” as per previous assurances.