Others
Myanmar urged to ban landmines, lift travel restrictions on Aid Groups
Fortify Rights on Thursday said the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups should end the use of landmines and the government of Myanmar should lift restrictions on humanitarian aid groups providing life-saving support to landmine survivors in ethnic areas affected by the ongoing war.
Since January 1, 2020, landmine explosions in Myanmar have reportedly killed or injured at least 68 civilians, while longstanding government-imposed restrictions on aid groups coupled with new COVID-19-related restrictions hinder access to essential aid and services.
“Myanmar is one of the world’s most landmine-affected countries and every casualty is one too many,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights.
"Humanitarian access was restricted before COVID-19 and it’s worse now. The government should immediately ensure humanitarian groups, especially community-based groups, are able to reach all casualties and survivors of landmines.”
Fortify Rights spoke with 10 organisations, including six local-led humanitarian groups, working to address landmine casualties in conflict zones in Kachin and northern Shan states, all of whom report a near total halt to their regular activities. Landmines killed or injured at least 26 civilians in Kachin and northern Shan states this year.
“There was a mine explosion in Moemeik [in Mongmit Township, Shan State], and we couldn’t help the person for two reasons,” Lwar Hlar Reang the General-Secretary of Ta’ang Student and Youth Union (TSYU) based in Lashio, northern Shan State, told Fortify Rights.
“The first is the military prevents people from coming and seeing that person . . . The second reason is that it is difficult for us to travel right now because of the coronavirus.”
TSYU is a civil society organisation that provides essential assistance to survivors of landmine explosions.
Describing their work, Lwar Hlar Reang said: “Some [landmine survivors] need transportation in order to get to the hospital, some people need medical help and are in need of an operation. We provide transportation and clothes for the operation.”
“Coronavirus affects all our projects at the moment,” Lwar Hlar Reang added. “It’s really difficult because there’re mine victims and communities of people who are affected by mine explosions and we can’t go to them directly . . . It’s difficult because we cannot travel to the community right now.”
The Ta’ang Women Organization (TWO) in northern Shan State is another civil society organisation providing assistance to survivors of landmine explosions.
“We cannot reach out to these victims [of landmine explosions] because currently most of our field workers cannot travel because of COVID-19, and another reason is security because in northern Shan State the military sends troops in this region,” said Moon Nay Li, the former General Secretary the Kachin Women Association Thailand (KWAT), another civil society organisation working with communities in Kachin and northern Shan states.
“So, that’s why our workers find it very difficult to travel from one place to another.”
Financial aid for all mosques, 7,000 more Qawmi Madrasas before Eid: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said financial assistance will be provided to all mosques and another 7,000 Qwami Madrasas across the country before the Eid-ul Fitr.
Covid-19: Vaccines, tests, treatment should be patent-free
Oxfam has urged governments and pharmaceutical companies to guarantee that vaccines, tests, and treatments will be patent-free and equitably distributed to all nations and people.
The agency made the call on Thursday, ahead of the World Health Assembly next week. The virtual meeting on Monday will be attended by health ministers from 194 countries.
Vaccinating the poorest half of humanity – 3.7 billion people - could cost less than the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies make in four months, Oxfam said on Thursday.
The Gates Foundation has estimated that the cost of procuring and delivering a safe and effective vaccine to the world’s poorest people is $25 billion.
Last year, the top ten pharmaceutical companies made $89 billion in profits – an average of just under $30 billion every four months.
Oxfam warned that rich countries and huge pharmaceutical companies – driven by national or private interests – could prevent or delay the vaccine from reaching vulnerable people, especially those living in developing countries.
The EU has proposed the voluntary pooling of patents for coronavirus vaccines, treatments, and tests in their draft resolution for the World Health Assembly.
If made mandatory and worldwide, this would ensure that all countries could produce, or import low cost versions, of any available vaccines, treatments, and tests.
Leaked Documents
Oxfam said leaked documents reveal that the Trump administration is trying to delete references to pooled patents and insert strong language on respecting the patents of the pharmaceutical industry.
This would give pharmaceutical companies exclusive rights to produce, and set prices for any vaccines, treatments and tests they develop – even if taxpayer money has been used to fund their research and development.
Jose Maria Vera, Oxfam International Interim Executive Director, said providing a vaccine to 3.7 billion people could cost less than what the ten biggest pharmaceutical companies make in four months.
Anything less than guaranteeing that a vaccine is made available free of charge to all people would be obscene.
“Vaccines, tests and treatments should be distributed according to need, not auctioned off to the highest bidder. We need safe, patent-free vaccines, treatments and tests that can be mass produced worldwide, and a clear and fair plan for how they will be distributed.”
Once vaccines or treatments are developed, there is also a high risk that rich and powerful governments will outbid poorer nations and force their way to the front of the queue, as they did in the scramble for other essential medical supplies such as personal protective equipment and oxygen.
In March, drug manufacturer Gilead moved to extend the monopoly on a potential treatment for the virus, and only withdrew it after a public outcry.
Gilead has now donated a significant portion of its current supply of remdesivir to the US government, but news reports suggest the company could make significant profits from subsequent production.
Some Wall Street analysts expect Gilead to charge more than $4,000 per patient for the drug, even though the cost of remdesivir can be as low as $9 per patient.
Poor Countries
Many poor countries are unable to access essential vaccines and medicines due to patent rules which give pharmaceutical companies monopoly rights and the power to set prices well above what they can afford.
Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children under the age of five, with 2,000 children dying every day. For over a decade, millions of children have not had access to patented pneumonia vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline due to its high cost.
After years of campaigning by Médecins San Frontieres, both companies reduced their prices in 2016, but only for the very poorest countries, leaving millions of children still without access to their vaccine.
Oxfam is proposing a four-point global plan that calls for:
a) Mandatory sharing of all Covid-19 related knowledge, data and intellectual property, and a commitment to make all public funding conditional on treatments or vaccines being made patent-free and accessible to all.
b) A commitment to deliver additional global vaccine manufacturing and distribution capacity with funding from rich country governments.
This means building factories in countries willing to share and investing now in the millions of additional health workers needed to deliver prevention, treatment, and care both now and in the future.
c) A globally agreed, equitable distribution plan with a locked-in fairness formula so that supply is based on need, not ability to pay.
Vaccines, treatments, and tests should be produced and supplied at the lowest cost possible to governments and agencies, ideally no more than $2 a dose for a vaccine, and provided free at the point of delivery to everyone that needs it.
d) A commitment to fix the broken system for the research and development of new medicines. The current system puts pharmaceutical profit above the health of people across the world meaning many needed put unprofitable medicines never get developed, and those that do are too often priced out of reach for the poorest countries and people.
Vera said, “Delivering an affordable vaccine for everyone will require unprecedented global cooperation. Governments must rip up the rulebook and prioritise the health of people everywhere, over the patents and profits of pharmaceutical corporations. Governments must ensure that no one is left behind.”
The Gates Foundation estimated the cost of producing and distributing a vaccine and has confirmed that this cost relates to the production and distribution in low and lower middle income countries only.
Oxfam believes that vaccines should ideally be produced and supplied for no more than $2 per dose.
This is a reasonable challenge to set given that new complex vaccines for big killers like pneumonia are already available for this price.
Coronavirus: Cops, doctor, bankers test positive in Bogura
Five people, including policemen, bank officials and a physician, were diagnosed with coronavirus in Bogura in the last 24 hours until Wednesday.
Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Mostafizur Rahman said two sub-inspectors of Bogura police, two bank officials of Kahalu upazila and a doctor of Bogura Mohammad Ali Hospital were found infected with coronavirus.
Shafique Amin Kajol, Resident Medical Officer of Bogura Mohammad Ali Hospital, said 17 staffers, who are suspected to have come in contact with the physician, were sent to home quarantine.
Samples of 188 people have been sent for lab testing at Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital. Of the 96 test results that came out Wednesday, five were found positive, said sources at Civil Surgeon office.
So far, 57 confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported from the district. Of them, nine have recovered.
According to the Police Headquarters sources, 1,926 police members were infected with coronavirus until Wednesday.
The health authorities confirmed 1,162 new cases and 19 deaths – highest for a single day – on Wednesday. So far, the country has recorded 17,822 coronavirus cases and 269 deaths.
Coronavirus: 6 of a family test positive in Feni
Seven people, including six members of a family, have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Feni, raising the number of confirmed cases to 26 in the district.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), a cleaner of Feni General Hospital is among those found infected on Wednesday.
Dhaka’s air ranked worst in the world
The quality of the capital’s air has hardly improved over the past weeks when Dhaka was put under heavy restrictions with the rest of the country to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Dhaka’s air was ranked worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI) on Thursday morning. It had an AQI score of 233 at 8:35m and the air was classified as ‘very unhealthy’.
Bangladesh’s overcrowded capital is no stranger to polluted air and people expected it to improve, like other parts of the world, after the country entered a lockdown mode in late March.
Global coronavirus death toll nears 300,000
As the number of globally confirmed coronavirus cases near 4.5 million, the death toll too is rising, inching towards 300,000.
On Thursday morning, the global death toll stood at 298,165, according to data compiled by Worldometer.
Confirmed coronavirus cases were 4428,236 at this time.
Worldometer data showed that the number of cases and deaths started going up drastically since mid-March.
Currently, 2,472,248 confirmed COVID-19 patients are being treated and 45,920 of them are in serious or critical condition.
Grameen Telecom provides PPEs, masks to police, Army, RAB
Grameen Telecom has provided personal protective equipment (PPE), disposable medical masks and K N95 masks to police, Army and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
5,000 poor artists to get financial help: Ministry
The Cultural Affairs Ministry on Wednesday announced to provide financial help to 5,000 artists who were left without earning sources amid the nationwide shutdown to prevent transmission of coronavirus.
Bustle back on Dhaka streets with traffic and noise
While the fresh cases and deaths from coronavirus are spiraling in the country, the number of vehicles multiplied on the streets of Dhaka, posing a high-risk of mass-contamination of the deadly virus.