coronavirus situation
8,873 general, 565 ICU beds available for Covid patients
While the country witnesses a continuous upsurge in coronavirus cases, 8,873 general and 565 ICU beds are available across the eight divisions for Covid-19 patients.
Health Ministry on Sunday said in a press release that as many Covid patients have left the hospital after recovery, these beds are now unoccupied.
From the data provided by the hospitals in eight districts, the total Covid-dedicated number of beds in the country is now 12,347 and the number of ICU beds is 1,092.
Also read: DNCC Market Hospital to get 200 new ICU beds: Health Minister
In hospitals of Dhaka city, 3,799, beds are unoccupied of the 5,626 general beds.
Of the total 773 ICU beds, 420 are available now in the city.
Country’s recovery rate 90%
So far, 687,328 people have recovered, including 2,657 in the last 24 hours, according to DGHS.
Also read: Covid-19 surge lays bare another crisis: Scant ICU beds and specialists
This projects a 90.21 percent recovery among the patients.
68% of businesses yet to receive any stimulus: SANEM
Insufficient allocation, lengthy procedure, difficulty in bank-related services, and lack of information about the procedure left 68% of businesses unable to avail the government's stimulus package, the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (Sanem) said Sunday.
However, effective implementation of the stimulus package is critically important and assessment is urgently required on the package implemented so far. The packages need to be redesigned and expanded amid the current wave of Covid-19, they said.
The government should undertake a sectoral approach to gauge the needs and identify the necessary policy measures for the worst affected industries such as leather and tannery, light engineering, transport, retails, restaurants, food processing, they added.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should be a priority in channelling the loans and stimulus packages. Also, effective implementation of the stimulus package is critically important. An assessment is urgently required on the stimulus package implemented so far, the experts suggested.
Also read: SANEM finds 70% wage-earners in 4 dists. worse off in a year
The observations came up at the webinar "Covid-19 and business confidence in Bangladesh: Findings from the 4th round of a nationwide firm-level survey."
Sanem, in collaboration with Asia Foundation, initiated the quarterly Business Confidence Survey in July 2020.
The third round of the survey was conducted in January and the fourth round in April 2021, which covered 253 firms from the manufacturing sector and 250 from the services sector.
"The sectors that need priority are light engineering, transport, retail, and leather and tannery as their recovery rate is slow. The stimulus packages are having positive impacts on the firms' recovery," Sanem Executive Director Selim Raihan said.
Also read: SANEM survey: Population below poverty line doubled, extreme poor trebled in 2020
"The firms, on average, have been able to recover 57% of their damages occurred during this pandemic (March 2020 -March 2021), according to the survey. It shows the firms have not got back to the pre-pandemic situation, and it might take a while for them to be able to do so."
Selim said the business confidence for April-June 2021 deteriorated compared to the one during January-March 2021; posing a threat to future businesses.
The survey also found that the majority of the stimulus package recipient firms were from the manufacturing sector – 82.7% of all firms.
Amongst the industrial sectors, 58% of the RMG firms received the stimulus package, whereas this rate is 40% for the textile and 30% for the leather industry. Also, it was the large firms who had greater access to the stimulus package: 46% of the surveyed large firms received the stimulus package in contrast to 30% medium firms and 9% small firms.
Also read: Almost three quarters of firms yet to receive stimulus: SANEM
Former lead economist of the World Bank Dhaka Zahid Hussain said recovery across the economy has been experienced to some extent; however, it has not been uniform across all sectors.
"Time and again, it has been evident that large firms are at an advantage compared to micro and small firms. Large firms often have more influence and power, leading to better bargaining power and hence, giving them better access to stimulus packages," he added.
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Rizwan Rahman said the central bank and monetary institutions must formulate strict guidelines for the banking sector to ensure that loans are disbursed to small and micro-enterprises.
Intensify efforts to procure vaccines for alternative sources: BNP
Voicing concerns over the suspension of administering the first dose of Covid vaccine in Bangladesh, the BNP standing committee has urged the government to intensify its efforts for collecting the jabs from alternative sources.
“Our standing committee is worried over the vaccine crisis and the suspension of the vaccination programme. The government couldn’t collect the necessary vaccine doses due to its irresponsibility and incompetence,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Sunday.
Speaking at a virtual press conference on the outcomes of BNP standing committee’s meeting held on Saturday, he said the government has also failed to take the right decision on the vaccine import as it has become “isolated from people”.
Also read: Govt doing business in Covid’s name: BNP
“Corruption is the main reason behind such a vaccine crisis. They’ve taken a wrong decision on procuring the vaccine from a single source in India through a corrupt company owned by a leader of their party,” the BNP leader observed.
Fakhrul said their party and the country’s health experts had warned the government of the consequences of procuring the vaccine from a single source, but it did not change its stance.
“They (govt) didn’t look for an alternative source of the corona vaccine as it always thinks of benefits of its leaders, not people…the government is running the country with some mafias and the mafias are playing the important role in making decisions and running the country,” he alleged.
Also read: Engaging single organisation in buying vaccines a ‘suicidal’ move: BNP
The BNP leader said there is no alternative to installing a pro-people government through a credible election under a non-party administration to get rid of the current situation of the country.
He said the Serum Institute of India has violated the agreement on providing three crores of vaccine to Bangladesh by stopping the supply after only giving 70 lakh jabs, but the government did not raise voice against it.
Fakhrul said their standing committee urged the government to take necessary steps for increasing oxygen production in the country alongside immediately procuring the vaccine from alternative sources.
Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts say lockdown likely to pay off
Experts think that the ongoing lockdown in Bangladesh appears to be paying off as both the active coronavirus cases and death toll have marked a sharp fall over the last few days in the country.
They, however, fear that the benefits might be short-lived ones as the government has allowed shopping malls to reopen and is thinking of resuming public transport services soon though the virus is yet to come under control.
The analysts warned that the Covid situation is likely to worsen again with the hordes of shoppers and holidaymakers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the largest religious festivals of Muslims to be celebrated in the middle of this month.
They advised the government to announce a stimulus package for the transport workers instead of resuming transport service, enforce the law to make people to wear masks and maintain health safety rules and increase vigilance along the border to check any possible trespassing or illegal entry to Bangladesh from India to maintain the improved trend in the Covid situation.
The government imposed a complete countrywide lockdown on April 14 for a week to tackle the worsening Covid situation, and later it was extended up to May 5. But the government gave permission for reopening shops and malls across the country from April 25 amid lockdown.
Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Saturday the government is considering the resumption of public transport services in the country ahead of Eid.
Bangladesh’s health authorities reported 69 more deaths and 1,359 new cases in 24 hours until Sunday morning.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The virus infection rate that increased to 23 percent early last month has now dropped to 9.60 percent on Sunday.
Lockdown proves to be effective
Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, former director (disease control) of the DGHS, said the fall in the number of Covid cases and deaths has manifested that the ongoing lockdown has proved to be good.
“As the offices and mass transport service remains shut, people’s movement has declined, contributing to reducing the virus transmission,” he said
No hotel vacancy in Benapole and Narail
Bangladeshis returning from India through Benapole checkpost are being sent to hotels in Khulna for 14-days quarantine.
Since Saturday, India-returnees have been sent to Khulna.
After all the 12 hotels and a madrasa in Benapole were filled with people from India by Thursday, they were sent to the hotels in Narail on Friday.
Also read: 105 Bangladeshis return from India through Benapole
To cope with overwhelming crowd of returnees, this step has been taken.
Every day, Bangladeshis stuck in India are returning in groups through Benapole checkpost.
Read Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole
Most of the stranded passengers were staying in India for treatment.
About 70 Bangladeshis returned to the country by 3 pm on Sunday.
They were taken to Khulna under special arrangements.
Also read: 15 stranded Bangladeshis return home through Benapole
So far 1199 people have returned from India after the lockdown.
As per the government instructions, the returnees are being kept in 14-day institutional quarantine.
Read Arms, valuables, drugs worth Tk 120 crore seized from Benapole in 2020
Why India’s pandemic data is vastly undercounted
Even after more than a year of devastating coronavirus surges across the world, the intensity and scale of India’s current crisis stands out, with patients desperate for short supplies of oxygen, pleas for help from overwhelmed hospitals, and images of body bags and funeral pyres.
As daily case counts soar far beyond what other countries have reported, experts caution the official COVID-19 numbers from the world’s second most populous country are likely a massive undercount. But why is India’s data considered inaccurate? Is the data any less accurate than what other nations report? And which numbers give a good indication of the crisis?
IS INDIA COUNTING EVERY CASE?
India is not counting every coronavirus case, but no nation can. Around the world, official tallies generally report only confirmed cases, not actual infections. Cases are missed because testing is so haphazard and because some people infected by the coronavirus experience mild or even no symptoms.
The more limited the testing, the more cases are being missed. The World Health Organization says countries should be doing 10 to 30 tests per confirmed case.
India is doing about five tests for every confirmed case, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. The U.S. is doing 17 tests per confirmed case. Finland is doing 57 tests per confirmed case.
“There are still lots of people who are not getting tested,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto. “Entire houses are infected. If one person gets tested in the house and reports they’re positive and everyone else in the house starts having symptoms, it’s obvious they have COVID, so why get tested?”
Jha estimates, based on modeling from a previous surge in India, that the true infection numbers could be 10 times higher than the official reports.
WHAT ABOUT DEATHS?
Deaths are a better indicator of the shape of the pandemic curve, Jha said, but there are problems with the data here too.
“The biggest gap is what’s going on in rural India,” Jha said. In the countryside, people often die at home without medical attention, and these deaths are vastly underreported. Families bury or cremate their loved ones themselves without any official record. Seventy percent of the nation’s deaths from all causes occur in rural India in any given year.
Counting rural deaths can be done, as Jha’s work with the Million Death Study has shown. The pre-pandemic project used in-person surveys to count deaths in rural India, capturing details of symptoms and circumstances with results of the “ verbal autopsies ” reviewed and recorded by doctors.
Many low- and middle-income countries have similar undercounts of death data, Jha said, but India could do better.
“It’s a country that’s got a space program. Just counting the dead is a basic function,” he said. “India should be doing much, much better.”
DOES IT MATTER?
Knowing the size and scope of the outbreak and how it is changing helps governments and health officials plan their responses.
Even with the known problems with the data, the trajectory of COVID-19 cases and deaths in India is an alarming reminder of how the virus can rocket through a largely unvaccinated population when precautions are lifted.
“What happens in India matters to the entire world,” said Dr. Amita Gupta, chair of the Johns Hopkins India Institute in a Facebook conversation Thursday. “We care from a humanitarian perspective, a public health perspective, and a health security perspective.”
Bail, Ad-interim orders extended for 4 weeks: HC
Bail and all High Court ad-interim orders have been extended for the next four weeks, considering the lockdown and ongoing Covid situation.
Registrar general of the Supreme Court Md Ali Akbar issued a notice in this regard on Sunday.
The notice says the four week-extension will be effective on cases the High Court granted bail to the accused for a specific period or granted bail on condition of surrendering to a lower court or declared ad-interim order for a period.
On April 5 and April 18, through two different notices the Supreme Court has extended all ad-interim bails and orders for two weeks, twice.
On April 11, the Supreme Court declared on a notice that, from April 12 all the court and tribunals will be conducted virtually to settle all the bail and emergency criminal applications.
Very difficult to understand Corona: Quader
Roads and Bridges Minister and Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said that the dream project Padma Bridge will be opened for traffic movement in June 2022.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Quader said this at an exchange meeting with officials of Sylhet Zone, BRTC and BRTA this morning while he virtually joined the meeting from his official residence.
The work of the entire bridge structure has been completed with the installation of the latest girder of the viaduct at the Mawa end of the Padma Bridge yesterday, he informed.
Stating that the progress of the construction work of the main bridge has been 93.2% so far, the bridge minister said that the progress of river governance work is 63% while the overall progress of the project is 85.5%.
Earlier, the Bridges Division sought the extension in February this year as the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted project progress.
Also read: ‘Godspeed Bangladesh’: ICCB on Padma Bridge
The Bridges Division sent the proposal for the time extension to the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Commission (PC) on February 2.
However, the Bridges Division informed the minister again that bridges can be opened for traffic by June 2022 despite the appeal for deadline extension until June 2023.
Obaidul Quader said, "It is very difficult to understand the character of Corona. There is no alternative to wearing mask and following health guidelines. We have to pay more attention to strict hygiene."
Quader also said the situation in India today is people are dying before going to the hospital, crying for a bed and oxygen, their crematorium and graveyard are unable to afford the corpse.
"We must now be extremely vigilant against the alarming message of infection and death rates in neighboring India, " he warned.
Also read: Padma Bridge, Metro Rail opening to public within June 2022: Quader
Stating that there is no reason to worry about the vaccine, the second man of the ruling party said that when a humanitarian leader like Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina i, this difficult time will end one day.
Regarding the Dhaka-Sylhet and SylhetRoad and bridge minister Obaidul Quader said the Padma Bridge will be opened to traffic in June 2022.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said this at an exchange meeting with officials of Sylhet Zone, BRTC and BRTA this morning.
The Minister virtually joined the meeting from his official residence.
The work of the entire bridge structure has been completed with the installation of the latest girder of the viaduct at the Mawa end of the Padma Bridge yesterday!
Stating that the progress of the construction work of the main bridge has been 93.2% so far, the bridge minister said that the progress of river governance work is 63% and the overall progress of the project is 85.5%.
Also read: Padma Bridge: An impressive mega project gets close to completion
Obaidul Quader, general secretary of the Awami League, said, "It is very difficult to understand Corona. There is no alternative to hygiene and wearing mask. We have to pay more attention to strict hygiene."
Obaidul Quader said what is the situation in India today, people are dying before going to the hospital, crying for a bed and oxygen, their crematorium and graveyard can not be found.Therefore, the Minister said, we must now be extremely vigilant against the alarming message of infection and death rates in neighboring India.
Stating that there is no reason to worry about the vaccine, Obaidul Quader said that this difficult time will end one day as a humanitarian leader like Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working relentlessly.
Regarding the Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Tamabil highway projects, the Minister for Road Transport and Bridges said that it is one of the priority projects at the moment, so more importance should be given to upgrade the road to four lanes.
PM donates Tk 10cr for Covid-hit homeless people
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday provided Tk 10 crore to two separate funds for helping Covid-hit people and the rehabilitation of landless and homeless people.
She provided the financial assistance from Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust.
Of the amount, Tk 5 crore was given to the assistance fund for the Corona-hit prople, while another Tk 5 crore to Ashrayan Project for the rehabilitation of landless and homeless people.
The Prime Minister has provided Tk 10 crore at her personal initiative, said PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim.
Sheikh Hasina urged the affluent section of society to come forward in aid of the poor and destitute.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 69 more deaths, 1,359 new cases
The health authorities reported 69 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Sunday morning, taking the death toll to 11,569, as Bangladesh grapples to tackle the second wave of the pandemic.
Besides, 1,359 new cases were detected after examining 14,158 samples, the lowest number of tests since April 18, according to government data.
The health authorities have so far tested 5,498,979 samples. There has been a steady decline in the number of tests since April 28. New cases have been on the wane since April 26 but fell dramatically since April 28, data available on corona.gov.bd show.
However, the daily infection rate fell to 9.6 percent from Saturday’s 9.61 percent while the fatality rate rose to 1.52 percent from 1.51 percent a day before, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the new cases, the country’s total Covid-19 caseload now stands at 761,943, the DGHS handout said.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020 and the first death on March 18 that year.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 77 deaths, new cases 2,955