The mega inoculation campaign against Covid-19 without any registration has been extended till February 28, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday. The minister said this at a virtual press briefing on the vaccination drive. The minister said, “ We targeted bringing  10 million people under vaccination within 24 hours today but according to information received from different centers the target will exceed as people are still waiting in long queues to get vaccinated. “ “Seeing immense interest among people to get vaccinated, we have decided to extend today’s campaign for two more days ,” he added. The minister urged all authorities concerned to work to make the campaign successful in these two days. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports below 1000 cases after 52 days The minister assured that there is no reason to panic over not getting the vaccine after today as the campaign will continue to give the first, second and booster doses of the vaccine as before. “There is no shortage of vaccines in the country ,” he added. “The infection rate is currently  4.5 per cent and daily deaths have declined which will decline further. Vaccination has played a role in the decline in cases and deaths.” “So far, 11 crore  people have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and if we succeed in vaccinating 1 crore more today the number will rise to 12 crore,” added the minister.

The 75th birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the president of Bangladesh Awami League, now in the USA, was celebrated across the country amid a special mass vaccination on Tuesday. Hasina, the eldest among the five children of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, was born at Tungipara in Gopalganj on September 28, 1947. The ruling Awami League and its affiliated organisations celebrated the day by holding various programmes, highlighting her life and achievements. Various programmes like discussions, doa and milad-mahfil, special prayers and photo exhibitions were organised in the capital and elsewhere across the country marking her birthday. More importantly, a nationwide mass vaccination campaign was conducted on the day targeting to inoculate 80 lakh people on the occasion of Hasina's birthday. As part of the AL central programmes, a discussion was held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital in the morning. At the function, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader said Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina was born for the cause of history, and now she herself is history.   Besides, doa and milad-mahfil were arranged at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and all other mosques throughout the country after Zahr prayers. Read: PM Hasina’s 75th birthday to be celebrated Tuesday