Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS)
Bangladesh sees only 363 new Covid cases as sample testing falls amid Eid
Bangladesh recorded 363 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning as the number of sample tests declined drastically since the beginning of Eid holidays.
Only 5,430 samples were tested during the period which were two or three times higher before Eid-ul-Fitr. So far, 5,707,716 tests have been carried out.
Besides, the country saw 25 deaths taking the death toll to 12,149, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 23
Bangladesh reported 25 Coronavirus fatalities on March 24 and the number continued to go up since then. It experienced a surge in cases in April but the daily count fell below 2,000 in early May.
The mortality rate rose to 1.56 percent from Saturday’s 1.55 percent while the infection rate stood at 6.69 percent, the DGHS said.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed 780,159 Coronavirus cases. The country reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first death on March 18, 2020.
Meanwhile, 601 people have recovered from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 92.55%.
Lockdown extended till May 23
The government extended the ongoing lockdown for another week until May 23 with two new directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
A circular was issued by the Cabinet Division in this regard on Sunday.
It said all offices and agencies relating to revenue collection will be considered as emergency service providers.
Read:Return to Dhaka after lockdown ends: Mayor Taposh
Besides, restaurants and eateries will remain open with only takeaway/online services.
As coronavirus cases kept growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread. But with no improvement in sight, the government went for stricter lockdown and extended it in phases.
Schools, colleges to remain closed until May 29
The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions until May 29.
The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers after consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, the Education Ministry said in a handout.
During the closure online classes will continue, it said.
The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year, just over a week after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases.
Read:Closure of schools, colleges extended until May 29
The closure was extended several times, most recently until May 23 this year.
On February 22, the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24.
Residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17.
Bangladesh extends lockdown until May 23
The government has again extended the ongoing lockdown for another week until May 23 with two new directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
On May 5, the government extended the countrywide lockdown until May 16.
Read:Covid-19: Ongoing lockdown to be extended until May 23
The circular said all the offices and agencies relating to revenue collection will be considered as emergency service providers.
Besides, restaurants and eateries will remain open with only takeaway/online services.
As coronavirus cases kept growing at an alarming rate since mid-March, the government had imposed a ‘loose’ nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
Later, a ‘stricter’ lockdown was announced from April 14 to 21. On April 28, the government again extended the lockdown until May 5 and issued six fresh directives as the country is struggling to contain the Covid-19 transmission.
On April 23, the Cabinet Division issued a notice allowing shops and shopping malls to operate from April 25 (10am-5pm) on a condition that they would maintain proper safety protocols.
Read:Return to Dhaka after lockdown ends: Mayor Taposh
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Covid-19 claimed 22 more lives in Bangladesh in 24 hours until Saturday morning, which was the lowest daily deaths in the country in nearly two months.
Bangladesh saw 26 Covid deaths on Friday and 31 on Thursday.
With the deaths logged on Friday, the official Covid-related death count in the country reached 12,124.
However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.55%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read:Covid-19: 22 more lives lost, lowest daily deaths in 7 weeks
Bangladesh witnessed a sharp drop in the number of new cases as the tests have declined dramatically.
Only 261 infections were logged in the 24-hour period after examining 3,758 samples.
The country also confirmed 779,796 Covid-19 cases in total, said a DGHS handout.
31 more lose lives to Covid, death toll reaches 12,076
Covid-19 claimed 31 more lives in Bangladesh, including 13 in Dhaka division, in the past 24 hours until Thursday morning, showing a fall in fatalities compared to the previous day.
The country saw 40 Covid deaths on Wednesday and 33 on Tuesday. The latest number took the official Covid-related death count to 12,076.
However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.55%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Bangladesh also confirmed 778,687 Covid-19 cases with 1,290 people coming out positive in 13,371 tests over the same period.
The daily infection rate rose to 9.58% from Wednesday's 7.45%, while the recovery rate stood at 92.41%.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,690,693 tests since reporting its first Covid-19 cases on March 8 last year and the first fatality from the virus on the 18th of the month.
Also read: India returnee tests Covid-19 positive in N’ganj, house put under lockdown
The country experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases in April and the daily cases fell below 2,000 in early May. Also, it has been seeing below 60 daily deaths for a week after recording over 100 fatalities on several occasions in April.
Dhaka hit hardest
Dhaka has remained the worst-hit division, recording 6,985 fatalities or 57.84% of the total deaths until now. Of the total daily deaths, 13 deaths were reported from Dhaka alone and nine from Chattogram.
Lockdown falls flat ahead of Eid
The nationwide lockdown, imposed on April 4 to break the chain of Covid-19 infections and fatalities, has been extended till May 16 to limit public movement or contain the surge in daily infections.
Officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked not to leave their workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
However, the lockdown measures fell flat ahead of the upcoming Eid celebrations.
The DGHS has expressed concerns that mass travel could lead to a resurgence of infections as the restrictions could not deter people from travelling to their village homes ignoring health risks.
Also read: Covid-19 claims 40 more lives, infects 1,144 others
At least five people died and 50 others injured Wednesday in a stampede as thousands of people returned to their native villages from Dhaka and other cities for Eid-ul-Fitr, defying Covid-19 restrictions.
Vaccination drive
In late January, countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka started receiving vaccine doses through donations from India and other countries and commercial deals.
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 India temporarily halted exports of vaccines on March 24 to prioritise domestic requirements, following an explosion in Covid cases and fatalities in the country. The move has left the region with a serious shortage of vaccines.
The administering of the first dose in Bangladesh 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.
5 lakh Chinese vaccine doses arrive
Bangladesh on Wednesday received 5 lakh doses of China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine as a gift.
The development came after the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, giving a nod for it to be rolled out globally.
Bangladesh was initially reluctant to receive the Chinese vaccine until it got the WHO green signal but the second wave of the pandemic forced the country's health authorities to approve the jabs alongside Russia's Sputnik vaccine to continue its vaccination drive.
South Asia: The new global hotspot?
South Asia, home to a quarter of the world's population, is fast becoming the new global hotspot of the Covid-19 pandemic. Extremely low vaccination rates across South Asia have also put millions of lives in the region at risk.
Also read: Indian states asked to stop people from dumping bodies of COVID-19 victims into Ganga
India and Nepal's healthcare systems are reaching breaking point. The virus is spreading and crossing borders at a frightening speed. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are also seeing a surge.
The new Indian variant of coronavirus has been detected in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, prompting authorities to axe travel corridors with India. It has been designated a variant of concern by the WHO that might be more contagious than most versions of the coronavirus.
Global Covid-19 cases near 159 million
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world, as cases approach 159 million.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total Covid caseload reached 158,616,717 while the death toll from the virus surged to 3,299,694 on Tuesday.
The US has logged 32,743,300 cases and 582,150 deaths as of Tuesday morning, and the country has expanded the use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to children as young as 12, in an effort to protect them.
Brazil on Monday reported 889 more deaths from Covid-19, raising the national count to 423,229, the Ministry of Health said.
Read:India reports 366,161 new COVID-19 cases
According to the ministry, Brazil now has a death rate of 201.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Meanwhile, 25,200 more infections were detected in the South American country, raising the nationwide tally to 15,209,990.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
The South American country is experiencing a new wave of infections, which has resulted in an increase in cases and deaths as hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid patients.
India, which has been experiencing a new surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths for the past several days, has so far registered 22,662,575 cases with 246,116 fatalities.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s coronavirus fatalities are nearing another grim milestone even as deaths from the virus infection slow down.
Health authorities on Monday reported 38 more Covid-19-related deaths in 24 hours, pushing up the total number of fatalities to 11,972.
However, the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent for the last four days, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Meanwhile, 1,514 new cases were detected after testing 16,848 samples, pushing up the total case count to 7,75,027. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,647,742 tests.
Read:Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh nears 12000
The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Extended lockdown
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown till 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, officials of all government, semi-government, autonomous and private organisations, as well as banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining strict health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain suspended though intra-district transport services resumed from Thursday. However, launch and train services will remain suspended.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from India's Serum Institute.
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.
India has tried to ward off its Covid crisis by ramping up the production of vaccines and banning their export, cutting off supplies to neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal as they struggle with infection surges.
Read:Sinopharm begins shipment of its vaccine to Bangladesh
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam recently assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by May.
Global Covid-19 cases near 158 million
With the frantic effort to stem the spread of Covid-19 cases across the world, many people are still being infected with the virus and there is no sign of getting relief from the pandemic as the global Covid-19 cases is approaching 158 million.
The total case count has reached 157, 951,588 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 3,288,762 as of Monday morning, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The US, which remained the world’s worst hit country in both number of cases and deaths, has registered 32,707,359 cases and 581,752 deaths respectively.
Brazil reported on Sunday 1,024 more deaths from the novel coronavirus , bringing the national death toll to 422,340, according to the Ministry of Health.
Also Read:Vaccine deserts: Some countries have no COVID-19 jabs at all
The ministry also stated that another 38,911 COVID-19 infections were registered, bringing the total caseload to 15,184,790.
Brazil has the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, after the United States and India.
India's COVID-19 tally crossed the 22-million mark on Sunday, reaching 22,296,414, as 403,738 new cases were registered in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.
Besides, as many as 4,092 deaths were recorded in the country since Saturday morning, taking the total death toll to 242,362, added the ministry.
This was the fourth consecutive day when over 4,000 deaths were recorded in 24 hours.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 56 more Coronavirus-related deaths and 1,386 new cases in a 24-hour period until Sunday morning.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the latest fatalities took the country’s death toll to 11,934 while the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent.
Also Read: Beware of Indian covid variant: Quader
Besides, the DGHS said, the new cases were detected after testing 16,915 samples, pushing up the total case count to 773,513. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,630,894 tests.
The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Global Covid-19 cases surpasses 157 million
Amid mass inoculation drive in many countries, Covid-19 cases crossed 157 million across the globe.
According to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count reached 157, 266, 867 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 3,278,651 as of Sunday morning.
The US has logged 32,685,864 cases and 581,511 deaths from the highly contagious virus.
Also Read:Global Covid-19 cases near 157 million
Besides, India, which has been undergoing a devastating 2nd wave of coronavirus, has recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours till Saturday morning, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh.
So far, India registered 21,892,676 caess with 238,270 deaths, as per the university data.
Brazil reported 2,202 more deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, raising the national count to 421,316, the Ministry of Health said.
The ministry said that 63,430 more cases were detected, raising the nationwide tally to 15,145,879.
Brazil has the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, after the United States and India.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 45 more Coronavirus related deaths with 1285 new cases in 24 hours until Saturday morning amid concern after the detection of first case of highly contagious Indian Coronavirus strain in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,878 while the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent.
Also Read:Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Besides, the DGHS said, 1,285 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 14,703 samples, taking the total case count to 772,127.
Also, the country's infection rate fell to 8.74%, which was 9.89% a day ago, according to the DGHS.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,613 ,979 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Indian Coronavirus strain detected
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, confirmed Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR).
The Indian strain of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
Also Read:Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
The new strain was detected in samples collected from recent India returnee passengers in Bangladesh.
Global Covid cases top 154.7 million
The pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world. And with new variants of Covid-19 spreading faster than ever before in several nations, the global corona cases have now topped 154.7 million.
In fact, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities surged to 154,788,122 and 3,237,808, respectively, on Thursday.
The US, the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths, has so far logged 32,557,299 infections and 579,265 fatalities, respectively, as per the JHU data.
The Centers for Disease Control is now reporting an average of about 350,000 new cases each week, 35,000 hospitalisations and over 4,000 deaths, reports AP.
With Covid-19 deaths, hospitalisations and cases plummeting since January, many states and cities are already moving to ease or lift restrictions on restaurants, bars, theaters and other businesses and talking about getting back to something close to normal this summer.
Also Read:Global Covid cases near 154 million
Brazil registered 2,811 more deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 414,399, the Ministry of Health reported Wednesday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 73,295 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 14,930,183.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.
Meanwhile, India has recorded 20,665,148 cases as of Thursday morning, with 226,188 fatalities.
India’s hospitals are packed with Covid-19 patients and the shortage of oxygen is only intensifying the woes of patients and their relatives.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Wednesday recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death data, the mortality from coronavirus has risen to 11,755, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
Also Read:Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new infections during the period, pushing up the caseload to 7,67,338.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.
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.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has said that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by early May.
In the past 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, according to the DGHS handout.
Also Read:Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people have received the vaccine, of which 31,06709 got their second dose.
Lockdown extended
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, 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 Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm maintaining health guidelines. If any violations are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Also Read:Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays
Inter-district transport services will remain suspended, while only intra-district transport services will operate adhering to health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain suspended.
Global Covid cases top 153 million
The global Covid-19 caseload surpassed 153 million on Tuesday morning, with the world literally struggling to contain the second outbreak of the virus.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count and fatalities now stand at 153,185,370 and 3,209,657, respectively.
The US is the world's worst-hit country in terms of cases and deaths. The country is expected to authorise Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for youngsters aged 12 to 15 by next week.
Read Also: ‘Horrible’ weeks ahead as India’s virus catastrophe worsens
The US has logged 32,470,823 cases, with 577,500 fatalities, as of Tuesday morning, according to the university data.
India’s total Covid tally is fast approaching the 20-million mark, second after the US.
The total case count in the South Asian country has reached 19,925,604, while the death toll from the virus mounted to 218,959, according to the health ministry.
Brazil's Covid-19 death toll reached 408,622 after 983 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 24,619 new infections during the same period, taking its nationwide tally to 14,779,529.
Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Monday reported 65 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours, raising the death toll to 11,644.
The health authorities recorded 1,739 new infections after examining 13,431 samples, according to data available at corona.gov.bd.
A handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) put the number of tests at 19,431, including antigen tests.
Read Also: Covid-19: Bangladesh records more 65 deaths, 1,739 new cases
Bangladesh has been recording less than 70 virus-related deaths since Friday. The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but since then the daily fatalities have been falling gradually.
With the latest figure, 7,63,682 cases have been recorded in the country so far, the Directorate General of Health Services said. This puts Bangladesh at 33rd in the list of countries with highest cases, according to Johns Hopkins tally.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
Lockdown continues till May 16
The ongoing lockdown, imposed on April 5, has been extended till May 16.
People, however, are hardly following health safety rules. They are still crowding shopping malls and markets ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival of the Muslims.
Photos and videos shot by UNB lensmen show overcrowded shopping places and total indifference towards health guidelines.
There will hardly be any positive outcome if people don’t follow health rules to protect themselves and others around them from coronavirus, according to experts.
Meanwhile, intra-district public transport services will be allowed to resume from May 6.
Read Also: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine it acquired from the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record surge in Covid cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam has assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of the vaccine by the first week of May.
In the past 24 hours, 53 people have received the first dose and 1, 30,547 have received the second dose of the Covid vaccine, said the DGHS handout.
However, the registration process for receiving the vaccine jab remains shut.
Read Also: Vaccines to be procured at any expense, says PM Hasina
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.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Popular Pharma and Health Care Pharma have the capacity to produce Covid vaccines, and the Chinese vaccine could be produced locally, Mahbubur Rahman said.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division, said the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russia and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 17 more deaths, 363 fresh cases
The health authorities in Bangladesh confirmed 17 more new coronavirus-related deaths and 363 new cases in the last 24 hours till 8 am on Saturday.
Covid-19: Bangladesh’s caseload now 529,031, fatalities 7,942
Bangladesh’s Covid-19 tally reached 529,031 on Tuesday with the detection of 702 new cases.