Covid-19 update Bangladesh
Covid-19 claims 40 more lives, infects 1,144 others
Bangladesh has registered 40 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a rise in the number of daily deaths than the previous day.
With the news deaths the national tally reached at 12,045 on Wednesday. The country witnessed 33 deaths on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has been seeing below 60 daily deaths for a week after recording over 100 fatalities on several occasions in April.
However, the mortality rate rose to 1.55 percent, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, 1,140 new cases were detected after testing of 15,296 samples, pushing up the caseload to 777,397. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,677,222 tests.The daily infection rate fell slightly to 7.45 percent from Tuesday’s 8.67 percent.
Bangladesh was experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases in April and the daily cases came down to below 2000 since May 1.
DGHS said 2,928 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 92.39 percent.
Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
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 division, recording 6,972 fatalities or 57.88 percent of the total deaths until now.
Of the total daily deaths, sixteen deaths have been reported from Dhaka alone while 13 from Chattogrram.
Extended lockdown
The lockdown imposed on April 4 to contain the spread of coronavirus has been extended till May 16 as the government continues to discourage people from travelling to their village homes.
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.
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.
Also Read: 500 thousand doses of China’s gifted vaccine arrive in Bangladesh
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.
In the last 24 hours, 10 people have received the first dose of the vaccine while 97,337 have received the second dose, said the health directorate.
Also Read: Nothing to be worried about vaccines: FM
Vaccine arrives from China
Covid-19 vaccine doses, donated by the Chinese government to Bangladesh, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, China and Bangladesh have been supporting and assisting each other to fight together against the pandemic.
China has donated and is donating vaccines to 80 developing countries with urgent needs, and has provided support under COVAX for the emergency use of vaccines in developing countries.
Sinopharm begins shipment of its vaccine to Bangladesh
Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm has started delivering its vaccine doses to Bangladesh.
The company has finished packing 500 thousand doses of the gifted vaccine, which are now heading towards Beijing Capital International Airport in a cold-chain container truck.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Monday officially announced that 5 lakh doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”.
Also Read: 5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine to arrive on May 12: Envoy
"It's the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation which again shows that our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle," he said.
The Ambassador made the announcement during an interaction with the members of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) held virtually. DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the event.
"China is dedicated to international vaccine cooperation," said the Chinese envoy, adding that the Sinopharm vaccine has already been recognised and used in over 50 countries and regions globally for quite some time.
Also Read: Beijing wants Dhaka notto join Quad
“This is a new vote of confidence in China’s vaccines cast by the world. The Bangladeshi government also gave emergency use authorisation to the vaccine a week prior to the WHO’s clearance, which I believe is a far-sighted decision. It shows the faith put in China by Bangladesh, and it will surely mean a lot to our future cooperation,” he said.
According to clinical statistics provided by Sinopharm and the evaluation of the WHO, the efficacy rate of the vaccine is estimated to reach 79%, all age groups included.
Ambassador Li said the vaccine is recommended for adults aged 18 and older, and WHO did not indicate any upper age limit for use as data suggests that the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in elder persons.
Read Bangladesh approves emergency use of Chinese Covid vaccine
“It’s also the first vaccine carrying a vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that changes colour with the exposure to heat, thus warning health professionals if any doses go bad,” he said.
As the Covid-19 is still wreaking a havoc on people’s lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500 thousand doses of vaccine are arriving just in time. It is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.
Read Chinese drugmaker: Vaccine 79.3% effective in final tests
The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
Bangladesh has kept up its intensified efforts to get Oxford-AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from India, China and the United States.
The Chinese Ambassador said China proposed providing the vaccine doses as a gift on February 3 and the government of Bangladesh took three months to approve it.
Read Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
He said there is a high demand of Chinese vaccines and it will take time to get vaccines through commercial purchase.
The Ambassador said Bangladesh proposed getting Chinese vaccines through commercial purchase on April 30 and Bangladesh could have got those much earlier if the decision had been taken timely.
He laid emphasis on quick and effective decisions by the government of Bangladesh on issues like vaccines.
Read What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
India receives 10,000 vials of Remdisivir from Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata Toufique Hasan on Thursday handed over 10,000 vials of Remdisivir, an antiviral injection, to the representative of the Indian government at the Indian border port of Petrapole.
These 10,000 injections manufactured by Beximco Pharmaceuticals were sent as medical assistance on behalf of the people of Bangladeshi at the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the Covid-affected people of India.
This was the first consignment of medical assistance, including medicines and health protection items, Bangladesh offered to India as support to the Indian people during this deteriorating Covid situation in India.
Earlier, the government of Bangladesh offered to dispatch on an emergency basis medicines and medical equipment for the people of India who are fighting the pandemic across the country.
These include approximately 10,000 vials of injectable anti-viral, oral antiviral, 30,000 PPE kits, and several thousand zinc, calcium, vitamin C and other necessary tablets, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Also Read: Bangladesh offers emergency medical supplies to India
The government of Bangladesh expressed deep sorrow and condolences at the loss of lives in India due to the spread of the Covid pandemic.
Bangladesh said it stands in solidarity with close neighbour India at this critical moment and is ready to provide and mobilise support in every possible way to save lives.
The thoughts and prayers of the people of Bangladesh are with the people of India for alleviating their sufferings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Bangladesh is interested to provide further support to India, if needed, it said.
The Indian government thanked Bangladesh for its gesture and support after receiving the consignment of essential medicines that entered West Bengal via land border at Petrapole.
"Thank our neighbour and close friend Bangladesh for this gesture and support. Taking forward our unique relationship," Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson at Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), tweeted on Thursday.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
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.
Bangladesh offers emergency medical supplies to India to fight Covid-19
Amid the rapidly deteriorating Corona situation in India, the government of Bangladesh has offered to dispatch medicines and medical equipment on an emergency basis as the pandemic overwhelmed India’s health system.
The emergency supplies include approximately 10,000 vials of injectable anti-viral, oral anti-viral, 30,000 PPE kits, and several thousand zinc, calcium, vitamin C and other necessary tablets, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Thursday.
The government of Bangladesh expressed deep sorrow and condolences at the loss of lives in India due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Bangladesh said it stands in solidarity with close neighbour India at this critical moment and is ready to provide and mobilise support in every possible way to save lives.
The thoughts and prayers of the people of Bangladesh are with the people of India for alleviating their sufferings, MoFA said.
Also Read: Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole
Bangladesh is ready to provide further support to India if needed, it said.
India’s Covid cases cross 18m
India has reported a record rise in coronavirus cases and deaths over the last 24 hours, pushing its overall caseload above 18 million.
Also Read: Border with India to remain shut for 14 days: FM
With 379,257 new cases and 3,645 new deaths on Thursday, India’s total number of cases and deaths are now at 18.38 million and 204,832 respectively, according to health ministry data.
Fresh lockdown from Apr 22: State Minister
The government has decided to enforce a fresh countrywide lockdown for a week from April 22 as coronavirus cases keep rising in the country.
“The lockdown will remain in force from April 22 to 28 with the same restrictions imposed in the previous week. It’ll be a tougher one,” said State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossian.
The summary of today’s decision has been sent to the Prime Minister and a gazette will be issued once it gets her approval, he said.
The ongoing lockdown will end on April 21.
Also Read: Bangladesh braces for 'another weeklong lockdown'
As coronavirus cases continue to rise alarmingly from late March, the government imposed an apparently loose nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
But the government allowed the resumption of public transport in city corporation areas from April 7 as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from April 9 in the face of protests against the lockdown.
A stricter lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21 and the Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard.
Restrictions as per previous notification
All modes of public transports, including those of roads, riverways, railways and air, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
But the offices related to air, maritime and river and land ports will remain out of the preview of the lockdown.
However, the restriction will not be effective in the case of carrying goods, emergency services and production.
The offices, staffers and vehicles of the organisations providing emergency services, including law enforcement, agricultural products (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, machinaris), crops, food-laden vehicles, relief distribution, health services, health workers involved in mass inoculation, power, water, gas, fire services, port activities, media (print and electronic media), private security management, telephone, and postal services will remain out of the purview of the restriction.
Also Read: Lockdown day 3: Dhaka streets largely deserted
Industries and factories
Industries and factories will remain open on condition of maintaining health protocols. The respective factories or industries must take measures to carry their employees in their own vehicles.
Public movement
Public movement will be restricted and no one will be allowed to go outside except for certain emergency needs (to purchase medicines, daily essentials, to take medical services and burial/ cremation of dead bodies, taking Covid-19 jabs etc).
Also Read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
Hotels and restaurants
Hotels and restaurants can operate from 12 pm to 7 pm and 12 am to 6 am with takeaway/online services only.
Markets and shops
All the shopping malls and markets will remain closed during this period.
Daily essential items like kitchen items can be sold and purchased from open spaces from 9 am to 3 pm complying with health protocols. Local administrations and the authorities concerned will ensure it.
The local administration concerned will take steps in a coordinated way for carrying agricultural workers for harvesting Boro paddy.
District and field administrations will take measures to enforce the directives in a coordinated way. Law enforcement agencies will strengthen patrol and take legal action against those who will violate the directives.
The Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services will take necessary steps to engage law enforcers and local administration on behalf of him.
Worsening Covid situation
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 24 hours.
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.
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.
Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on Feb 7. Until Sunday morning, 7,116,946 have registered for the vaccine.
So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Global Covid-19 cases top 141 million
As coronavirus is wreaking havoc around the world, over 141 million people have been infected with the virus with more than 3 million fatalities.
The total caseload from the virus reached 141, 124, 378 while the death tally hit 3,017, 555 as of Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases approaches 139 million
The US has logged 31,669,880 cases and the death toll in the US climbed to 567,217, the highest number of deaths in the world.
The US has crossed the grim milestone of 30 million cases on March 25.
Besides, Brazil's COVID-19 death toll on Sunday reached 373,335 after registering another 1,657 fatalities, the country's ministry of health reported.
According to the ministry, another 42,980 cases were registered, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 13,943,071.
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 140 mn with over 3 mn fatalities
India has been hit hard by the pandemic recently as the country has logged over 2 lakh Covid-19 cases for the last couple of days.
Now the total caseload in India has reached 14,788,109 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 177, 150 as of Monday morning.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
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.
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.
Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on Feb 7. Until Sunday morning, 7,116,946 have registered for the vaccine.
So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Bangladesh sees 100+ Covid deaths for 2nd straight day
Bangladesh registered a single-day death of 101 from Covid-19 for the second consecutive day in 24 hours until Saturday, pushing up the total fatalities to 10,283.
The country shattered its previous all records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities on Friday.
With the latest figure, the mortality rate rose to 1.44 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh's death toll crosses grave milestone.
However, 3,473 new cases were detected during the period as the number of tests declined significantly in the last 5-6 days. Only 16, 185 samples were tested during the period.
The handout said the daily infection rate fell to 21.46 percent from Friday’s 23.36 percent.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
With the new cases, the total caseload reached 715,252 while the total number of recoveries was 608,815, (85.12 percent of all patients) including 5,907 in the last 24 hours.
1,237 lost lives in 17 days
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Between April 1 and April 17, the country registered 1,237 deaths and 100,484 new cases.
On Thursday, the country recorded 94 deaths, a day after registering the highest number of single-day fatalities (96). The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday.
Also Read: Day 4 of lockdown: Dhaka wears a deserted look
81 pc victims above 50
Of the latest victims, 69 are men and 32 are women. Of them, 99 died at hospitals.
Fifty-eight out of the 101 victims are above the age of 60. So far, 7,635 men and 2,648 women have died from the virus.
In terms of age group, 56.36 percent are aged more than 60 years while 24.62 percent are aged between 51 and 60 years. Together, these two groups account for 80.98 percent of the total fatalities.
Dhaka has recorded 58.15 percent of the fatalities with 67 deaths, followed by Chattogram’s 18 percent fatality rate with 23 deaths.
On Saturday morning, there were 157 ICU beds available in the country.
There are 10,667 general beds for coronavirus patients and 5,423 of them are currently occupied. On the other hand, there are only 823 ICU beds and 666 of them are occupied at the moment.
Global Covid-19 cases top 138 million
The overall number of global Covid cases has now surged past 138 million, an alarming figure that paints a bleak picture of the pandemic.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 138,056,297 while the death tally from the virus reached 2,971,539 Thursday morning.
The US has recorded 31,420,888 cases to date and more than 564,396 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Also Read: Global Covid-19 case surpassed 137 million
Brazil, which has been experiencing new wave of cases since January, registered 73,513 fresh cases, bringing the national tally to 13,673,507.
Brazil's Covid-19 death toll has risen to 361,884, with 3,459 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday.
Besides, India’s total cases is approaching 14 million, forcing the authorities concerned to enforce restrictions in many states from Wednesday.
India has so far registered 13,873,825 cases and 172,085 deaths from the virus, according to the government.
Also Read: Covid-19: Global cases close to 136 million
Situation in Bangladesh
With the shattering situation of Covid-19 cases, Bangladesh reported 96 deaths in 24 hours till Wednesday morning.
The latest fatalities have 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.
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.
The government has enforced a fresh strict lockdown for eight days from Wednesday in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Under the fresh lockdown all government, semi-government, autonomous, private offices and financial institutions will remain closed but the officers and employees will have to stay in their respective work stations.
The Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard on Monday. The lockdown will remain in force from 6 am Wednesday (April 14) till April 21 midnight.
Covid-19 Vaccine
The government launched a vaccination campaign on February 7 with doses received from the Serum Institute of India.
Experts are calling for ramping up the drive and urging people to follow the health guidelines to keep themselves and others around them safe.
On April 8, Bangladesh began its second phase of inoculation amid uncertainty over vaccine availability.
Global Covid cases surpass 131.6 million
The global number of confirmed Covid -19 cases surpassed 131.6 million on Tuesday, while fatalities topped 2.8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
To be specific, the total case count currently stands at 131,696,594 and the death toll at 2,859,357, as per the university tally.
Also Read: Global Covid cases hit 130.6 million
The US, the world's worst-hit country, has so far recorded 30,777,338 cases and 555,403 deaths, according to the university.
Brazil’s Covid-19 cases have now surged past 13 million, with the country reporting 28,645 new infections and 1,319 deaths in the past 24 hours.
The South American nation's tally currently stands at 13,013,601 and fatalities at 332,752, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
The South American country is one of the global epicentres of the Covid-19 pandemic, suffering the world's second-worst outbreak in terms of both deaths and infections, only after the United States.
Besides, India which is the world's third worst-hit country in terms of cases and 4th in terms of deaths, has so far reported 12,589,067 cases and 165,101 deaths.
According to the university data, Bangladesh holds 33rd position in terms of Covid-19 cases.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh recorded more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day in a row Monday, as the country is struggling with the rising number of infections during its second wave.
Health authorities recorded 7,075 fresh Covid-19 cases in 24 hours till Monday morning. And with 52 new deaths during the period, the coronavirus fatalities rose to 9,318. The mortality rate, however, remained static at 1.45 percent.
Amid the worsening Covid situation, the government enforced a 7-day lockdown from Monday restricting people’s movement, shutting shops and markets and suspending operations of public transport (bus, train and domestic flights).
Bangladesh has so far recorded 644,439 coronavirus cases, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Vaccination drive
The government launched a countrywide vaccination campaign on February 7, with doses received from the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh inked an agreement with Serum in December last year for acquiring 30 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Serum is supposed to supply the doses between January and June this year – 5 million each month.