COVID-19
Covid-19 turns India into vaccine importer from exporter
Covid-19 can change the course of everything on its track. For instance, the pandemic has suddenly turned India into a Covid vaccine importer from a mass exporter.
For the second day in a row, India has reported over two lakh Covid cases -- the second country in the world to report such a high single-day figure. On January 8, the US-registered over three lakh cases.
Also read: Efforts underway to accelerate vaccine delivery to poorer nations
India, in fact, crossed the two lakh mark for the first time on Thursday. And on Friday, the country registered as many as 2,17,353 new cases and 1,185 deaths in 24 hours, taking the national case count and fatalities to 15,69,743 and 1,74,308, respectively.
But suddenly facing an acute shortage of jabs, India -- which has gifted and sold millions of Covid shots to neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, and Africa through the World Health Organisation's COVAX initiative to date, is now turning to foreign vaccine producers.
Read J&J vaccine to remain in limbo while officials seek evidence
"India began vaccinating its people three months back, but the country is now facing a shortage of Covid jabs. So, the Indian government has decided to start importing vaccines from abroad to continue its mass inoculation drive," a senior government official told UNB.
"The first foreign consignment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine will arrive in India this month-end. A domestic pharma giant, Dr Reddy's will supply the imported Sputnik vaccine doses in the domestic market," he added.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccine not a 'silver bullet': WHO
In fact, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid inoculation programme on January 16. Two 'Made in India' jabs, one developed by the Serum Institute in collaboration with AstraZeneca, and the other by Bharat Biotech, are being given.
India has so far given 11,72,23,509 vaccine doses to its citizens, according to the country's Health Ministry.
However, the vaccine shortage is such that the Indian Health Ministry said Thursday that the country's Drug Controller would process Covid jab import licence in three working days flat, post emergency-use approval.
Read Several U.S. states shut down Johnson & Johnson vaccine sites after adverse reactions reported
“Applications for restricted use in emergency situations for such vaccines may be accompanied by bridging trial protocol, application for import registration certificate and application for import license," the Ministry said in a statement.
"Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) will process applications for registration certificate and import license, within three working days from the date of approval of restricted use in emergency situations,” it added.
Also read: Canada pauses AstraZeneca vaccine for under 55
India's vaccine shortage may also hit inoculation programmes in poorer economies as WHO is, to a large extent, dependent on supplies from this country. India has exported nearly 65 million doses to foreign countries to date, as per the Indian Foreign Ministry data.
"India will now focus primarily on domestic supplies because the government believes that the countrymen can't suffer at the cost of exports. But no specific call has been taken on halting exports yet," said the official.
Read Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
China ramps up vaccination drive with free eggs, other goods
China’s success at controlling the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a population that has seemed almost reluctant to get vaccinated. So it is accelerating its inoculation campaign by offering incentives — free eggs, store coupons and discounts on groceries and merchandise — to those getting a shot.
After a slow start, China is now giving millions of shots a day. On March 26 alone, it administered 6.1 million shots. A top government doctor, Zhong Nanshan, has announced a June goal of vaccinating 560 million of the country’s 1.4 billion people.
The challenge lies partly in the sheer scale of the effort and the need to convince a population that currently feels safe from infections.
When patients first showed up at hospitals in Wuhan in late 2019 with fevers, coughs and breathing difficulties, the government locked down the city and others in Hubei province for more than two months starting in January 2020. Wuhan later became known as the epicenter of the outbreak.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
Since then, China has controlled the virus through stringent border controls and quick lockdowns whenever new outbreaks crop up. People can dine out in restaurants and the risk of infection is low, so many don’t seem to be in a hurry to get the vaccine.
“I think everyone has a sense of security and comfort, and there’s no big rush to get vaccinated unless you are asked to do so,” said Helen Chen, a health care specialist at a market research firm in Shanghai.
But China also wants to open up as the world seeks to return to pre-pandemic normalcy and Beijing readies to welcome tens of thousands of visitors as host of the Winter Olympics in February 2022. While successful with swift lockdowns and a robust contact tracing system via smartphones, the government is also weighing those measures in balance with an eventual return to normalcy.
For now, in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing, the government has relied mostly on sustained messaging and freebies to convince people to get vaccinated.
Shopping malls have offered points at stores or coupons. A temple in Beijing offered free entry to anyone showing proof of vaccination. Shanghai is using buses in its campaign to set up mobile vaccination points.
And then there are the free eggs.
“Good news. Starting from today, residents 60 years old and above who have gotten their first shot are eligible for five ‘jin’ (2.5 kilograms or 5 1/2 pounds) of eggs. First come, first serve,” said a poster by a city-run health center in Beijing.
Also read: Denmark stops AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Wang Feng was too young for the eggs from the clinic, but the 25-year-old chef said he got the vaccine anyway because he could not go to work without it.
“I thought if it worked, then might as well,” he added.
Some people have expressed doubts about how good the existing vaccines are, Chinese or not, given how quickly they were developed.
“I don’t think such an effective vaccine can be made so quickly,” said Amy Lu, who works in a university in Shanghai.
The five vaccines currently being used in China have an efficacy range of 50.7% to 79.3%, based on what the companies have said. That doesn’t mean they have no value — most experts say that anything above 50% is useful getting the pandemic under control, along with preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
“Even if everyone gets two doses, you may not be able to achieve herd immunity.” said Wang Chenguang, a former professor at Peking Union Medical College and an immunology expert. Herd immunity occurs when enough of the population has immunity, either from vaccinations or past infection, to stop the uncontrolled spread of an infectious disease.
China may need to vaccinate at least 1 billion people to achieve that, said Wang Huaqing, a top immunology official with China’s Center for Disease Control, in an interview with state media this week. As of early April, roughly 34 million people had received two shots and about 65 million got one dose.
Gao Fu, the head of the CDC, said last weekend that China is considering various strategies such as mixing different vaccines to try to increase effectiveness. Outside experts say China could eventually deploy other, more effective vaccines, such as the Pfizer or Moderna shots.
“The best thing to do is to actually allow the use of other better vaccines and make them to be available to the Chinese people, but that’s probably very challenging politically,” said Jin Dong-yan, an expert on vaccines at the University of Hong Kong’s medical school.
Chinese drugmaker Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has partnered with Germany’s BioNTech to sell the Pfizer vaccine in China. However, it has only been approved in Hong Kong and Macao, special territories in China with their own regulatory agencies. A clinical trial for mainland approval is underway.
Vaccination is supposed to be voluntary, but overzealous efforts by some local governments and companies prompted health officials to issue a warning this week against forced vaccinations.
Also read: South Asian Govts must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines: AI
A hospital in Danzhou on the southern island province of Hainan issued an apology after it issued a notice to staff saying, “Those who are not vaccinated could be fired.”
In Zhejiang province, an April 2 announcement said all government departments, Communist Party cadres and people working in universities would be required to take the lead in getting shots.
The national government also required vaccination for all residents in Ruili, a border town with Myanmar, because of a recent outbreak.
Getting vaccinated can also mean being able to avoid some of the more onerous obstacles that some local institutions have set up in the name of pandemic control.
Beijing student Bright Li said he got vaccinated so he would no longer need approval to leave campus. Although barely enforced, Li became concerned after the university put up posters publicly denouncing a student who left campus without permission last winter after that student had gone to an area with a confirmed COVID-19 case.
The vaccine drive has run into scattered shortages and delays.
In Haikou, the capital of Hainan, health authorities issued a temporary stay on providing a second shot to those not involved with two major upcoming events, “owing to relative tightness” in the vaccine supply. Shortages were also reported in two southern cities, Foshan in Guangdong Province and the port of Xiamen in Fujian province.
China’s vaccine makers have expanded production capacity massively, and health officials say they are confident demand can be met by the end of the year.
Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
More than 60 former world leaders and over 100 Nobel Prize winners Thursday called on US President Joe Biden to support a waiver of intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines.
A waiver would boost vaccine manufacturing and speed up the response to the pandemic in the US and around the world, they said in a joint letter to Biden.
The letter specifically asks Biden to support a proposal from South African and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily waive intellectual property rules related to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
It calculates that at the current pace of vaccine production, the poorest nations will be left waiting until at least 2024 to achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation.
The signatories to the letter include former British prime minister Gordon Brown, former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, former president of France François Hollande and Nobel laureates Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
Gordon Brown said, "President Biden has said no one is safe until everyone is safe, and now with the G7 ahead there is an unparalleled opportunity to provide the leadership that only the US can provide and that hastens an end to the pandemic for the world."
The former British prime minister also said an urgent temporary waiver of intellectual property rules at the WTO would help them ramp up the global supply of vaccines together with a global multi-year burden-sharing plan to finance vaccines for the poorest countries.
Professor Yunus said, "Big pharmaceutical companies are setting the terms of the end of today's pandemic, and the cost of allowing senseless monopolies is only more death and more people being pushed into poverty."
"We together urge President Biden to stand on the right side of history and ensure a vaccine is a global common good, free of intellectual property protection."
François Hollande said the extreme inequality in access to vaccines around the world has created an unbearable political and moral situation.
"If the US supports the lifting of patents, Europe will have to take on its responsibilities. In the face of this devastating pandemic, world leaders must prioritise the public interest and international solidarity."
Also read: South Asian Govts must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines: AI
The leaders also called for the intellectual property waiver to be accompanied by the open sharing of vaccine know-how and technology, and by coordinated and strategic global investment in research, development, and manufacturing capacity, especially in developing countries.
The resulting vaccine inequality, the leaders warned, means that the US economy already risks losing $1.3 trillion in GDP this year, and if the virus is left to roam the world, the increased risk of new viral variants means even vaccinated people in the US could be unprotected once more.
The letter, which was coordinated by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 organisations, warned that at the current global immunisation rate, it was likely that only 10% of people in the majority of poor countries will be vaccinated in the next year.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi said, "We will not end today's global pandemic until rich countries – most especially the US – stop blocking the ability of countries around the world to mass-produce safe and effective vaccines."
Joseph Stiglitz said, "New mutations of the virus will continue to cost lives and upend our interconnected global economy until everyone, everywhere has access to a safe and effective vaccine. Intellectual property is the utmost artificial barrier to global vaccine supply."
Govt to expats: Don’t come during lockdown, except for emergencies
The government has decided to discourage expatriate Bangladeshis from returning home during lockdown, unless facing an emergency.
Bangladesh Missions abroad are being engaged to disseminate the message among expat communities in various countries.
To convey the message to expatriates, support from the social media platforms, Bangladesh Missions’ websites and community leaders will be taken.
However, the expatriates will be able to return to home from abroad in case there is any emergency need with a condition of mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine.
Also read: Biman to run special flights to 5 countries from Apr 17
Each of the returnees will have to show Covid-19 negative certificate which is a must and the Bangladesh Missions abroad will prepare the list of those who need to come to Bangladesh on an emergency need.
The Armed Forces Division will take adequate preparations for institutional quarantine facilities in Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet.
The decisions were taken at a virtual inter-ministerial meeting held on Thursday chaired by Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen.
Health Minister, Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and senior officials of the ministries concerned attended.
The government has decided to allow airlines including Biman Bangladesh Airlines to operate special flights to five countries - Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore from April 17 in an effort to help stranded Bangladeshi expatriate workers can join their workplaces.
Also read: Bangladesh to operate special flights to carry overseas workers
Among the expatriate Bangladeshi workers who want to go to these five countries having BMET clearance issued by the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, they will be given priority in going abroad.
However, in the case of these countries, those who have a visit visa, but do not have BMET clearance, will not get priority in going abroad.
Bangladeshis who will go to the UAE for work with a visit visa can get a BMET clearance.
During the lockdown, those who wish to travel to countries other than the five mentioned countries in case of emergency will be able to travel on special flights as transit-passengers subject to clearance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Biman to run special flights to 5 countries from Apr 17
The government has decided to operate special flights of national flag-carrier Biman to five countries, including four in the Middle East with high concentration of Bangladeshi expat workers from April 17.
As disclosed by Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager (public relations) of Biman on Thursday, these special flights can be availed to fly to three cities in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah), two of the United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Oman's Muscat, and Qatar's Doha in the ME, as well as the city-state Singapore.
"The passengers who have made reservations for scheduled flights, set to operate after 6am Saturday, are requested to be at the airport with Covid-19 negative certificates six hours before the departure time," she said.
Also read: Bangladesh to operate special flights to carry overseas workers
The government suspended the operation of all domestic and international passenger flights to restrict the spread of Covid-19 in the country for the duration of the 'all-out lockdown' that came into effect on April 14.
However, the special flight services will allow overseas workers currently stuck in Bangladesh for whatever reason to return to their places of work amid the suspension of regular flights.
"Special flights will be arranged for the overseas workers who have got stuck in the country following the government's strict lockdown. Bangladeshis who work in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Singapore can leave the country under the special arrangements," Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad told UNB on Wednesday.
Also read: CAAB to suspend international flights from Apr 14
"The five countries are still open for Bangladesh as there is no problem in those countries," he said.
The minister also said, "The recruiting agencies concerned are responsible for bringing the overseas workers with Covid-19 negative certificates to the airport and they'll have to follow health guidelines as well."
Answering a query about how many workers have got stuck, the minister said: "It's difficult to say about the exact number but it might be 25000-30,000 as the recruiting agencies claim."
Read Over 200 protest flight cancellation at Dhaka airport
Khaleda’s CT scan report largely good: Doctor
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was infected with coronavirus, has a very nominal lung infection, said her doctor and party vice chairman AZM Zahid after receiving her provisional HRCT scan report.
Talking to reporters at Evercare Hospital in the city, where the BNP chief underwent the high-resolution CT (HRCT) test, he said the BNP chief’s medical board decided to perform the test to know the exact condition of her chest.
“We’ve already received a provisional report of the test. The report findings suggest her (lung) infection is very nominal. It’s not even at the mild stage. The report is very good,”
He said now the medical board members will add any new medicine, if it is necessary, after discussions. “We need to monitor her condition round the clock as we can’t say how corona will behave tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”
Zahid said they will observe her condition very meticulously over the next one week so that they can take necessary measures under any circumstances.
He said Khaleda urged people to pray for her speedy recovery.
Also read: Covid-infected Khaleda undergoes CT scan
Asked whether Khaleda is free from danger, he said corona is such a disease no exact prediction can be made in advance. “We can say whether she is in danger or free from danger only after two weeks of her infection.”
He said they have taken all the arrangements for her treatment at a private hospital in case of any emergency.
Earlier, Khaleda underwent an HRCT scan test at Evercare Hospital as she has been suffering from low fever.
She went to the hospital around 9:40pm for the test as per her doctors’ advice, said her media wing member Shamsuddin Didar.
He said the BNP chief left the hospital for her Gulshan residence after the test around 10:25pm.
Earlier, Khaleda’s medical team members visited her and said she was still stable though she has been suffering from a low fever.
Also read: Khaleda suffered from low fever, condition still stable: Doctors
They also advised her to perform a CT scan test on the BNP chief to determine their next course of treatment.
"She had low fever on Wednesday night with around 100 degrees temperature. It’s a new symptom,” said the BNP chief’s medical board head Dr FM Siddiqui.
Talking to reporters at her Gulshan office, he said Khaleda suffered from fever on Thursday morning as well.
“I just checked her chest. Since the chest is clear, we think she’s stable,” the physician said.
He said her sugar level is also under control.
Also read: Khaleda Zia infected with Covid-19
“Today (Thursday) is the seventh day since Madam has got infected and she’s now entering her second week. The complexities of Covid are usually exposed during the second week. That's why we want to be a little more careful,” FM Siddiqui said.
He said if they find the CT scan report good, then they will continue her treatment at home.
The doctor said they will take her to a hospital if there is anything bad in the report. “Our decision depends on the CT scan report.”
Khaleda underwent the Covid test on Saturday last as eight other people at her residence were infected with the virus and her report came out positive.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government freed Khaleda Zia from jail for six months through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
Also read: Nine infected with coronavirus at BNP chief Khaleda’s house
She was released from the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) the same day, and she has been staying at her Gulshan house since then.
On August 27 last year, the government extended her release for six more months and it was extended again for six months on March 15 last.
On February 8, 2018, Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The High Court later doubled her jail term.
Khaleda was found guilty in another corruption case the same year. Her party claims both the cases are politically motivated.
Actress Kabori on life support
Legendary actress Sarah Begum Kabori was put on life support on Thursday afternoon at the Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital in the capital.
The two-time national award winner actress had been infected with coronavirus.
Updates about her condition was shared by her son Shaker Chishti in a video message.
He said Kabori’s oxygen levels had been “fluctuating quite a bit”. “Sometimes it goes up, which is a good sign, but sometimes it's not, which is not a very good sign,” he said.
“We’re still not sure if she would need any further treatment or if it can get any complicated than it is already. We’re still hoping that she’ll be back and that she’s fighting," Chisti said.
He said his mother is still in fighting spirits.
"She's still in the senses, she spoke to me and I gave her my love. She's praying and she wants all of you to pray as well,” he said. “She constantly kept saying that I should take care of my youngest brother and asked about her other sons and everybody including our family members, friends, her supporters and fans."
"Please pray for her so that she can come back healthy and wouldn't require any complicated procedures," Chishti said.
Kabori was shifted to the ICU at Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute and Hospital on April 8, where she is undergoing treatment for COVID-19. She was previously being treated at Kurmitola General Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus on April 5.
She has completed the shooting of her newly-directed film ‘Ei Tumi Sei Tumi’, for which she started shooting in March 2020. Eminent singer Sabina Yasmin is debuting as a music director in the film.
Born as Meena Pal on July 19, 1950, Kabori started her glorious journey on the silver screen at the age of 13 with the film ‘Sutorang’ directed by Subhash Dutta.
She received the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in ‘Sareng Bou’ in 1978 and later honoured with the Life Time Achievement award in 2013.
Kabori was elected a Member of Parliament from the Narayanganj-4 constituency on an Awami League ticket. She contested in the election in 2008 and served until 2014.
Covid-infected Khaleda undergoes CT scan
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was infected with coronavirus, underwent a CT scan at a city hospital on Thursday night as she has been suffering from low fever.
The BNP chief was taken to Evercare Hospital in the city’s Bashundhara area around 9:40pm for the test as per her doctors’ advice, said her media wing member Shamsuddin Didar.
He said the BNP chief left the hospital for her Gulshan residence after the test around 10:25pm.
Earlier, Khaleda’s medical team members visited her and said she was still stable though she has been suffering from low fever.
They also advised her to perform a CT scan test on the BNP Chief to determine their next course of treatment.
Also read: Khaleda suffered from low fever, condition still stable: Doctors
“She had low fever on Wednesday night with around 100 degrees temperature. It’s a new symptom,” said the BNP chief’s medical board head Dr FM Siddiqui.
Talking to reporters after visiting Khaleda at her Gulshan office, he said Khaleda suffered from fever on Thursday morning as well.
“I just checked her chest. Since the chest is clear, we think she’s stable,” the physician said.
He said her sugar level is also under control.
“Today (Thursday) is the seventh day since Madam has got infected and she’s now entering her second week. The complexities of Covid are usually exposed during the second week. That's why we want to be a little more careful,” FM Siddiqui said.
Also read: Nine infected with coronavirus at BNP chief Khaleda’s house
He said if they find the CT scan report good, then they will continue her treatment at home.
The doctor said they will take her to a hospital if there is anything bad in the report. “Our decision depends on the CT scan report.”
Khaleda underwent the Covid test on Saturday last as eight other people at her residence were infected with the virus and her report came out positive.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government freed Khaleda Zia from jail for six months through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
She was released from the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) the same day, and she has been staying at her Gulshan house since then.
Also read: Khaleda Zia infected with Covid-19
On August 27 last year, the government extended her release for six more months and it was extended again for six months on March 15 last.
On February 8, 2018, Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The High Court later doubled her jail term.
Khaleda was found guilty in another corruption case the same year. Her party claims both the cases are politically motivated.
Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil?
More than a year into the pandemic, deaths in Brazil are now at their peak. But despite the overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children, in Brazil 1,300 babies have died from the virus. One doctor refused to test Jessika Ricarte's one-year-old son for Covid, saying his symptoms did not fit the profile of the virus. Two months later he died of complications from the disease, reports BBC.
After two years of trying, and failed fertility treatments, teacher Jessika Ricarte had all but given up on having a family. Then she fell pregnant with Lucas.
"His name comes from luminous. And he was a light in our life. He showed that happiness was much more than we imagined," she says.
She first suspected something was wrong when Lucas, always a good eater, lost his appetite.
At first Jessika wondered if he was teething. Lucas's godmother, a nurse, suggested that he might just have a sore throat. But after he developed a fever, then fatigue and slightly laboured breathing, Jessika took him to hospital, and asked for him to be tested for Covid.
"The doctor put on the oximeter. Lucas's levels were 86%. Now I know that is not normal," says Jessika.
But he was not feverish, so the doctor said: "My dear, don't worry. There's no need for a Covid test. It's probably just a minor sore throat."
He told Jessika that Covid-19 was rare in children, gave her some antibiotics and sent her home. Despite her misgivings, there was no option to have Lucas tested privately at the time.
Jessika says that some of his symptoms dissipated at the end of his 10-day antibiotics course, but the tiredness remained - as did her concerns about coronavirus.
"I sent several videos to his godmother, my parents, my mother-in-law, and everyone said that I was exaggerating, that I should stop watching the news, that it was making me paranoid. But I knew that my son was not himself, that he was not breathing normally."
This was May 2020, and the coronavirus epidemic was growing. Two people had already died in her town, Tamboril in Ceará, north-east Brazil. "Everyone knows each other here. The town was in shock."
Jessika's husband Israel was worried that another hospital visit would increase the risk that she and Lucas would become infected with the virus.
But the weeks went by, and Lucas became sleepier and sleepier. Finally on 3 June, Lucas vomited over and over again after eating lunch, and Jessika knew she had to act.
They returned to their local hospital, where the doctor tested Lucas for Covid, to rule it out.
Lucas's godmother, who worked there, broke the news to the couple that his test result was positive.
"At the time, the hospital did not even have a resuscitator," says Jessika.
Lucas was transferred to a paediatric intensive care unit in Sobral, over two hours away, where he was diagnosed with a condition called multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS).
This is an extreme immune response to the virus, which can cause inflammation of vital organs.
Experts say the syndrome, which affects children up to six weeks after they are infected with coronavirus, is rare, but leading epidemiologist Dr Fatima Marinho from the University of São Paolo, says that, during the pandemic, she is seeing more cases of MIS than ever before. Although it doesn't account for all deaths.
When Lucas was intubated, Jessika wasn't allowed to stay in the same room. She rang her sister-in-law to try and distract herself.
"We could still hear the sound of the machine, the beep, until the machine stopped and there was that constant beep. And we know that happens when the person dies. After a few minutes, the machine started working again and I started to cry."
The doctor told her Lucas had suffered a cardiac arrest but they had managed to revive him.
Dr Manuela Monte, the paediatric doctor who treated Lucas for over a month in the ICU in Sobral, said she was surprised that Lucas's condition was so serious, because he did not have any risk factors.
Most children affected by Covid have comorbidities - existing conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease - or are overweight, according to Lohanna Tavares, a paediatric infectologist at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Fortaleza, the state capital.
But that wasn't the case with Lucas.
During the 33 days Lucas was in the ICU, Jessika was only allowed to see him three times. Lucas needed immunoglobulin - a very expensive medication - to deflate his heart, but luckily an adult patient who had bought his own had donated one leftover ampoule to the hospital. Lucas was so ill that he went on to receive a second dose of immunoglobulin. He developed a rash on his body and was running a persistent fever. He needed support to breathe.
Then Lucas began to improve and the doctors decided to take out his oxygen tube. They video-called Jessika and Israel so that he wouldn't feel alone as he regained consciousness.
"When he heard our voices he started to cry," says Jessika.
It was the last time they were to see their boy react. During the next video call "he had a paralysed look". The hospital requested a CT scan and discovered Lucas had had a stroke.
Still, the couple were told Lucas would make a good recovery with the right care and would soon be moved out of ICU and into a general ward.
When Jessika and Israel went to visit him, the doctor was just as hopeful as they were, she says.
"That night, I put my cell phone on silent. I dreamed Lucas came up to me and kissed my nose. And the dream was a great feeling of love, gratitude and I woke up very happy. Then I saw my cell phone and saw the 10 calls that the doctor had made."
The doctor told Jessika that Lucas's heart rate and oxygen levels had dropped suddenly, and he had died early that morning.
She feels sure that if Lucas had been given a Covid test when she had requested it back in early May he would have survived.
"It is important that doctors, even if they believe it is not Covid, do the test to eliminate the possibility," she says.
"A baby does not say what he is feeling, so we depend on tests."
Jessika believes that the delay in proper treatment made his condition more serious. "Lucas had several inflammations, 70% of the lung was compromised, the heart increased by 40%. It was a situation that could have been avoided."
Dr Monte, who treated Lucas, agrees. She says that although MIS cannot be prevented, treatment is much more successful if the condition is diagnosed and treated early.
"The earlier he would have received specialised care, the better," she says. "He arrived at the hospital already critically ill. I believe he could have had a different outcome if we could have treated him earlier."
Jessika now wants to share Lucas's story to help others who may miss critical symptoms.
"Every child I know was saved by some warning and the mother says: 'I saw your posts, I took my son to the hospital and he is now at home.' It's as if it were a little bit of Lucas," she says.
"I have been doing for these people what I wish they had done for me. If I had had information, I would have been even more cautious."
There is a misconception that children are at zero risk for Covid, says Dr Fatima Marinho, who is also a senior adviser to the international health NGO Vital Strategies. Marinho's research has found that a shockingly high number of children and babies have been affected by the virus.
Between February 2020 and 15 March 2021, Covid-19 killed at least 852 of Brazil's children up to the age of nine, including 518 babies under one year old, according to figures from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. But Dr Marinho estimates that more than twice this number of children died of Covid. A serious problem of underreporting due to lack of Covid testing is bringing the numbers down, she says.
Dr Marinho calculated the excess of deaths by unspecified acute respiratory syndrome during the pandemic, and found that there were 10 times more deaths by unexplained respiratory syndrome than in previous years. By adding these numbers, she estimates that the virus in fact killed 2,060 children under nine years old, including 1,302 babies.
Why is this happening?
Experts say the sheer number of Covid cases in the country - the second-highest number in the world - have increased the likelihood that Brazil's babies and young children are affected.
"Of course, the more cases we have and, as a result, the more hospitalisations, the greater the number of deaths in all age groups, including children. But if the pandemic were controlled, this scenario could evidently be minimised," says Renato Kfouri, president of the Scientific Department of Immunisations of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.
Such a high infection rate has overwhelmed Brazil's entire health care system. Across the country, oxygen supplies are dwindling, there is a shortage of basic medicines and in many ICUs across the country there are simply no more beds.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose lockdowns and the infection rate is being driven by a variant called P.1 which emerged in Manaus, in northern Brazil, last year, and is thought to be much more contagious. Twice the number of people died last month than in any other month of the pandemic, and the upward trend is continuing.
Another problem driving the high rates in children is a lack of testing.
Marinho says that for children often the Covid diagnosis comes too late, when they are already seriously ill. "We have a serious problem detecting cases. We don't have enough tests for the general population, even fewer for children. Because there is a delay in the diagnosis, there is a delay in care for the child," she says.
This is not just because there is little testing capacity, but also because it is easier to miss, or misdiagnose, the symptoms of children suffering from Covid-19, as the disease tends to present differently in younger people.
"A child has a lot more diarrhoea, a lot more abdominal pain, and chest pain, than the classic Covid picture. Because there is a delay in diagnosis, when the child arrives at the hospital they are in a serious condition and can end up complicating - and dying," she says.
But it's also about poverty and access to health care.
An observational study of 5,857 Covid-19 patients under the age of 20, carried out by Brazilian paediatricians led by Braian Sousa from the São Paolo school of medicine, identified both comorbidities and socioeconomic vulnerabilities as risk factors for the worst outcome of Covid-19 in children.
Marinho agrees this is an important factor. "Most vulnerable are black children, and those from very poor families, as they have the most difficulty accessing help. These are the children most at risk of death." She says this is because crowded housing conditions make it impossible to socially distance when infected, and because poorer communities do not have access to a local ICU.
These children are also at risk of malnutrition, which is "terrible for the immune response", Marinho says. When Covid payments stopped, millions were plunged back into poverty. "We went from 7 million to 21 million people below the poverty line in one year. So people are also going hungry. All of this is impacting mortality."
Sousa says his study identifies certain risk groups among children that should be prioritised for vaccination. Currently, there are no vaccines available for children under 16 years of age.
Visits by relatives to children in ICU have been restricted since the beginning of the pandemic, for fear of infection.
Dr Cinara Carneiro, an ICU doctor at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital, says this has been immensely challenging, not just because parents are a comfort to their children, but because they can also help in a clinical sense - they can tell when their child is in pain or in psychological distress and when they need soothing rather than medicating.
And she says the parents' absence intensifies their own trauma when they hear their child's condition has deteriorated and they haven't been there to witness it.
"It hurts to see a child dying without seeing their parents," says Dr Carneiro.
In an attempt to improve the communication between parents and their children, staff at Albert Sabin hospital clubbed together to buy phones and tablets to facilitate video calls.
Dr Carneiro says this has helped immensely. "We have made over 100 video calls between family members and patients. This contact has greatly reduced the stress."
Scientists stress the risk of death in this age group is still "very low" - the current figures suggest only 0.58% of Brazil's 345,287 Covid deaths to date have been of 0-9 year olds - but that is more than 2,000 children.
"The numbers are really scary," says Dr Carneiro.
When to seek help
While coronavirus is infectious to children, it is rarely serious. If your child is unwell it is likely to be a non-coronavirus illness, rather than coronavirus itself.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health advises parents seek urgent help if their child is:
Becoming pale, mottled and feeling abnormally cold to the touch
Has pauses in their breathing (apnoeas), has an irregular breathing pattern or starts grunting
Has severe difficulty in breathing, becoming agitated or unresponsive
Is going blue round the lips
Has a fit/seizure
Becomes extremely distressed (crying inconsolably despite distraction), confused, very lethargic (difficult to wake) or unresponsive
Develops a rash that does not disappear with pressure (the 'Glass test')
Has testicular pain, especially in teenage boys
Khaleda suffered from low fever, condition still stable: Doctors
The condition of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was infected with coronavirus, is still stable, but she is now suffering from low fever, her medical team said Thursday.
The doctors said they have decided to perform a CT scan test on the BNP Chief to determine thr next course of treatment.
“As a new symptom, she had low fever on Wednesday night with around 100 degrees temperature,” said the BNP Chief’s medical board head Dr FM Siddiqui.
Talking to reporters after visiting Khaleda at her Gulshan office, he said Khaleda suffered from fever on Thursday morning as well.
“I just checked her chest. Since the chest is clear, We think she’s stable,” the physician said.
He said her sugar level is also under control.
Also read: Khaleda is strong, stable: FM Siddiqui
“Today (Thursday) is Madam’s seventh day of infection and she’s now entering her second week. The complexities of Covid are usually exposed during the second week. That's why we want to be a little more careful,” FM Siddiqui said.
He said they will conduct her CT scan test within a very short time.
The doctor said they have also made arrangements for the test at a hospital but did not mention its name.
He said if they find the report of the CT scan to be good, then they will continue her treatment at home.
The doctor said they will take her to a hospital if there is anything bad in the report. “Our decision will depend on the CT scan report.” Khaleda underwent the Covid test on Saturday last as eight other people at her residence were infected with the virus and her report came out to be positive.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government freed Khaleda Zia from jail for six months through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
Also read: Nine infected with coronavirus at BNP chief Khaleda’s house
She was released from the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) the same day, and she has been staying at her Gulshan house since then.
On August 27 last year, the government extended her release for six more months and it was extended again for six months on March 15 last.
On February 8, 2018, Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The High Court later doubled her jail term.
Khaleda was found guilty in another corruption case the same year. Her party claims both the cases are politically motivated.