United News of Bangladesh

The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 531 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world. According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 530,920,131 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,309,638 on Saturday morning. The US has recorded 85,699,847 cases so far and 1,031,218 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows. India's Covid-19 tally rose to 43,147,530 on Friday, as 2,710 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, showed the health ministry's latest data. Besides, 14 deaths from the pandemic registered since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 524,539. Read: South Asia's intense heat wave a 'sign of things to come' Situation in Bangladesh Bangladesh registered 23 new Covid cases in 24 hours till Friday morning, taking the country's total caseload to 1,953,379, health authorities said. With no new Covid deaths reported during the period, the total fatalities from the pandemic remained unchanged at 29,130. On Thursday, the country saw 28 new cases with zero deaths. The daily test positivity rate slightly dropped to 0.59 per cent from Thursday’s 0.65 per cent as 3,899 samples were tested, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 per cent. The recovery rate rose to 97.37 per cent as 221 patients recovered during this period. In April, the country reported only five Covid-linked deaths and 1,114 new cases, while 14,100 patients recovered from the disease, according to the DGHS. Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh registers 2 deaths with 31 new cases Among the five deaths during the period, two were unvaccinated patients while three were vaccinated with two doses of the Covid vaccine. The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020. On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest positivity rate of 33.37 per cent. The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.  

Police have recovered the bodies of three persons from Manda upazila of Naogaon in the last 24 hours. The deceased have been identified as Abdus Samad, 58, of Dakshin Mainam village of Manda upazila, Rabindranath Pike, 66, of Binoy Bazar area of Prasadpur union and Sabbir Hossain, 26, of Chakrajapur village. Sabina Khatun, daughter of the deceased Abdus Samad, said that after the death of her mother, her father married a woman named Mausumi Khatun. Due to feud, his father divorced her stepmother a few months ago. On Thursday evening, his father left the house with her sister Samia. Since then, he had been missing. At one stage of the search, his father's body was found hanging from a mango tree in Rubel Hossain's garden near the house at around 3 am, she added. On the other hand, Rabindranath Pike's son Ratan Pike said that his father Rabindranath had been ill for a long time. At night he used to sleep on the veranda of the house. He has not been seen since 9pm on Thursday. Later, his body was found hanging from a tree in a mango orchard near the house, he added. Surma Begum, wife of the deceased Sabbir Rahman, said that her husband closed the bedroom in the house on Friday noon. As he did not respond for a long time, the door of the house was broken and his body was found hanging from the fan. Shahinur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Manda police station said three bodies were recovered within 24 hours in separate incidents and sent to Naogaon Hospital morgue for autopsy. Three unnatural death cases have been filed at Manda police station in the incident, the OC added. Also read: 2 teenage girls ‘commit suicide’ in Pabna 

Mentioning that 24 types of drugs are smuggled to Bangladesh from neighboring India and Myanmar, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the authorities have to be tougher on drug smuggling. The minister said this while addressing a drug eradication function at the BGB Cox's Bazar Regional Ground in Ramu as the chief guest on Friday morning. All offenders will be brought to justice, no matter who they are, he said. "In our country, 50 percent of drug addicts are youth. To save this generation of the country, we have no choice but to be tough against the drugs. So our goal is to implement zero tolerance against drugs," the minister added. While addressing the programme, the minister said there are huge swathes of Bangladesh's area bordering India and Myanmar and many of them are in extremely remote areas where border guards can't easily travel. So BGB is using modern technology including helicopters and the government is constructing border-roads, which will be completed soon, he hopes. The minister also officially razed to the ground drugs worth Tk 395.76 crore seized over the past one year in Cox’s Bazar. The destroyed drugs include 90,80,477 pieces of Yaba, 23.752 kg crystal meth ice, 6,767 cans of beer, 1,339 bottles of alcohol, 154 bottles of Phensedyl; 206 liters of local alcohol; 17 kg cannabis; 48,019 different types of tablets; 10,984 packets of cigarettes and sever bottles of ammonium sulfur. Besides, 1979 arrested drug peddlers and drugs worth Tk 510.90 crore were handed over to police. A documentary on the BGB's drive against drugs was screened at the programme and BGB Cox's Bazar Regional Commander Brigadier General Nazam-us-Sakib, AFWC, PSC delivered the welcome note. Government officials, reporters, BGB officials and members were present at the event. Also read: BGB destroys seized drugs worth Tk 395 crore in Cox’s Bazar

A 26-year-old woman was burnt to death in a fire set allegedly by her ex husband over dowry at Dumki upazila in Patuakhali early Friday. Police said the deceased was identified as Eti Aktar of the district. Locals said Eti’s former husband Jalil, 32, came to her house in Dhoparhat village in the small hours of Friday and set her on fire while she was sleeping. Read: College student found dead in Sylhet Eti divorced Jalil few days ago as he used to torture her for dowry money, according to the locals. Abdul Salam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Dumki police station, said the body was sent to the local hospital morgue for an autopsy. A case has been filed in this regard. Efforts are on to nab the killer, said the OC.  

A five-year-old boy who went for a swim in the River Kaliganga in Manikganj drowned after drifting into deeper waters Friday. Fire service said the incident took place between 11am at Beutha as Rohan Rahman from Manikganj municipality and a few other children went to the river for a swim. Read: Schoolboy drowns in city pond On information, a team of Manikganj Fire Service and Civil Defence carried out a rescue operation for two hours. But Rohan still remained missing. "Later, firefighters from Manikganj's Shibaloy joined them. Unfortunately, they could only fish out Rohan's stiff body at 1:30pm," Md Shariful Islam, deputy assistant director of Manikganj Fire Service and Civil Defence, told UNB.  

At least 20 people were injured in a clash between two factions of villagers over a land dispute at Kumargaon area in Sadar uapzila on Friday. Eyewitnesses said Moyna Mia and the local mosque committee of the area had been at loggerheads over the ownership of a piece of land. Read: 13 held over attacking Rab members in Ctg The clash ensued following an altercation between the supporters of both the groups in the area after Juma prayers. At one stage, both the groups, equipped with local arms, attacked one another, leaving 20 injured of the two groups. Later, the injured were taken to the nearest hospital. On information, police went to the spot and brought the situation under control, said Nazmul Huda Khan, officer-in-Charge (OC) of Jalalabad police station.  

Two constables of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) did not return to the country on completion of training in the Dog Squad in the Netherlands, a police officer said on Friday. The two, Shah Alam from Cox's Bazar and Russell Chandra Dey from Cumilla, are suspected to have fled the camp to stay back. Also read: 13 industrial cops hurt in Ctg road crash In Bangladesh, they stayed in the barracks of CMP's Dampara Police Lines and Mansurabad Police Lines. Amir Zafar, deputy commissioner of CMP (Headquarters) said that on May 9, a team of 8 members of Chattogram Metropolitan Police went to the Netherlands to join the15- day training on Dog Squad management and operation. But the day before departure, two constables left the camp in the afternoon in the name of tour. Since then, they have not been found, he said, adding that efforts are on to find them through the police headquarters and the foreign ministry. Also read: 2 cops injured in attack by accused in Chattogram The incident has already been reported to the Netherlands' embassy and police headquarters. “We are not sure yet whether they have fled or not."  "If it is, action will be taken against them for violating discipline," the officer added.

A Bangladeshi national has been detained with 11 gold bars worth Tk 80 lakh at Sylhet's Osmani International Airport on Friday morning, Customs officials said. The detainee has been identified as Md Ali Ahmed, 35, a resident of Ujan Meherpur Dorgarbazar in Gopalganj upazila of Sylhet. His flight from Dubai landed at the airport around 7am.  Also Read: Gold worth Tk6.5 crore seized at Dhaka airport Md Al Amin, deputy commissioner of Customs at Osmani International Airport, said Ahmed was stopped for frisking as he was passing through the green channel.  "We found the gold bars hidden in a nebuliser kept in his bag. A case will be filed against the detainee," he added.     

The air quality in Dhaka has deteriorated again. With an air quality index (AQI) score of 166 at 10.45am on Friday, the metropolis ranked third in the list of world cities with the worst air quality. Russia’s Krasnoyarsk and India’s Delhi occupied the first and the second spots, with AQI scores of 290 and 176, respectively, in the list. An AQI between 151and 200 is considered 'unhealthy' for everyone and members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents. AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, is used by government agencies to inform people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for them. Also Read: Dhaka's air quality turns 'good' In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone. Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon. A report by the Department of Environment (DoE) and the World Bank in March 2019 pointed out that the three main sources of air pollution in Dhaka "are brick kilns, fumes from vehicles and dust from construction sites". With the advent of winter, the city’s air quality starts deteriorating sharply due to the massive discharge of pollutant particles from construction work, rundown roads, brick kilns and other sources. Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.    

Two young men were killed after their bike dashed into a roadside electric pole at cruise speed in Barishal city on Thursday night, police said. The deceased were identified as Sudipto Saha, 25, son of Uttam Saha and Antu Saha, 25, son of Dilip Saha. The accident occurred around 11.15pm at Amtala intersection in front of Reneta office, said Lokman Hossain, officer-in-charge of Kotwali model police station. Also read: Palestinians: Israel deliberately killed Al Jazeera reporter "The one riding the bike list control of the two-wheeler, leading to the accident. While he died on the spot, the one riding pillion succumbed to his injuries at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital," he said. The bodies have been kept at the hospital morgue for post-mortem, said the OC. Also read: 3 killed as microbus plunges into Bandarban ditch