Reaffirming that the government is making all-out efforts to collect Covid-19 vaccines from different sources, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said they are now at the stage of signing a deal with Russia to procure Sputnik-V vaccine. Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, he said they are also trying to procure the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine from other countries besides India. Also Read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM “We’ve been using the AstraZeneca vaccine as we had placed an order for 3 crore doses of it. We’ve got only 70 lakh jabs in addition to 30 lakh that came as a gift…but now we don’t have that much vaccine in our stock and whatever is left will be given as the second dose,” the minister said He said the Prime Minister, Health Ministry, Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries are making joint efforts to procure vaccines from other sources. “We’ve already made a huge progress in discussions with Russia over procuring its vaccine … now we’re at the stage of signing a deal in this regard,” Maleque said. He said they are also in talks with China to have Sinopharm’s Covid vaccine. “They informed us that five lakh of doses will arrive in Bangladesh by May 12. We’ve also sent a letter to them seeking more vaccine doses.” The minister said the Chinese government is now assessing the possibility of vaccine export to Bangladesh. Also Read: Serum to return money if it fails to provide vaccine: Finance Minister “So, we’re making all-out efforts to collect the vaccine. Even, we’re trying to have AstraZeneca’s vaccine from other countries as it’s being manufactured in different countries. So, every effort is there to bring vaccines. We hope our efforts will yield good results, and we may be able to give you good news over the vaccine very soon,” he said. The minister also said they will encourage the private sector if it tries to manufacture vaccines in Bangladesh. “If anyone can produce vaccines, we’ll provide all-out support, and it’s my commitment.” Speaking at the programme, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman said there is no alternative to vaccinating people to control the coronavirus. He said the government is working sincerely on procuring vaccines from Russia, China and other sources as there has been a crisis of AstraZeneca’s jabs in India. Also Read: Efforts intensified to get Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from US: FM Besides, he said, Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) has already approved local company Globe Biotech’s 'Bangovax' vaccine. “We hope we’ll be able to vaccinate most of our people by collecting the vaccines within a few months.” He said all the pandemics that emerged in the world earlier had been brought under control through vaccinations. “We hope we’ll be able to control the corona pandemic by vaccinating our 60-80 percent people.”    

India's COVID-19 tally reached 19,557,457 on Sunday, with a single day spike of 392,488 cases, said the federal health ministry. As many as 3,689 deaths were recorded since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 215,542. Read Also: India launches effort to inoculate all adults against COVID There are a total of 3,349,644 active cases in the country, with an increase of 80,934 through Saturday, while 15,992,271 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far across the country. The COVID-19 figures continue to peak in the country, but the federal government has ruled out imposing a complete lockdown. The capital Delhi has been put under a second successive week-long lockdown till May 3. Read Also: India's COVID-19 tally crosses 19 mln with over 400000 daily cases Delhi, one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, witnessed over 25,219 new cases and 412 deaths through Saturday. As many as 16,559 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed Delhi's health department. Meanwhile, a total 290,142,339 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in India till Saturday, out of which 1,804,954 tests were conducted on Saturday alone, according to the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research on Sunday. The third phase of vaccination for people aged above 18 in India began on Saturday. So far over 156 million vaccination doses have been administered in India since the country kicked off its nationwide inoculation drive in January. Read Also: First batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine delivered to India Two types of vaccines are being administered to the people in India, including the Covishield vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India and the Covaxin vaccine made by Bharat Biotech International Limited. India received the first batch of the Russian-made Sputnik-V vaccine on Saturday.