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Dengue: 77 new patients hospitalised in 24 hrs
Another 77 dengue patients were hospitalised across the country in 24 hours till Wednesday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Among them, 59 patients were hospitalised in Dhaka while the 18 in other places, it said.
As many as 333 dengue patients including 258 in the capital are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.
On Tuesday, this year’s death toll from the mosquito-borne viral disease rose to 12 with two more deaths reported from Cox’s Bazar.
Read:Dengue death toll rises to 12 as 2 more die; 65 new patients hospitalised
Among the total deaths, eight were reported from Cox’s Bazar while four from Dhaka.
On June 21, the DGHS reported the first death of the season from the viral disease.
In July, the country reported 1,571 dengue cases with nine deaths.
This year, the DGHS has recorded 2,889 dengue cases and 2,544 recoveries so far.
ACC holds mass hearing against 42 govt agencies
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) listened to over one hundred complaints lodged by people against services of 42 government agencies during a mass hearing at Chattogram Medical College auditorium on Wednesday.
Attending the event as chief guest, ACC Commissioner (Investigation) Mohammad Mozammel Haque Khan said that in 70 percent of cases, the accused have been punished and the rest of the cases will be disposed of soon.
“Not only petty criminals but ACC has arrested some very influential people who are still in prison. ACC won’t spare anyone who are involved in corruption. ACC will ensure that no one can embezzle government resources,” Mozammel said.
Mozammel added that ACC doesn’t rush while filing cases.
“Rather, we take time to file the cases. We file a case only when enough investigation is done. That’s why the possibility of mistakes in ACC cases remains very low,” Mozammel added.
Read: ACC chair addresses Reporters Against Corruption
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Chattogram Mohammad Mominur Rahman presided over the hearing.
Md Ashraf Uddin, Divisional Commissioner of Chattogram, AKM Sohel, Director General (DG) (Resistance) of ACC, Krishnapad Ray, Commissioner of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) and Md Mahmud Hasan, Commissioner of ACC’s Chattogram Divisional Office, among others, were present at the event.
Economy moving to comfortable zone as inflation eases: Planning minister
Planning Minister MA Mannan on Wednesday said that Bangladesh economy is moving toward a comfortable position with the restoration of global food supply after Russia’s recent deal with Ukraine allowing export of food grains.
The minister said this at a press briefing at his office in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, while releasing the inflation data prepared by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). He also spoke on the current state of the economy.
He said the government plans to prepare a list of most consumed 20-22 products to measure a separate inflation rate. These items are usually consumed by the marginal and lower middle-class people.
Mannan said the overall inflation rate decreased by 0.8 per cent to 7.48 per cent in July from the 7.56 per cent in June. “This is a good news,”
The government has opened the door to importing rice and other food items easing the process. The increasing supply has already brought down the prices of edible oil, rice, vegetables, and some commodities, he said.
The inflation rate will come down gradually as the supply of rice and other commodities increased in the domestic market along with easing the global supply chain, the minister said.
Read: Bangladesh ahead of other nations in reining in inflation: AL
Dhaka's air quality remains 'unhealthy'
Dhaka's air quality remains 'unhealthy for sensitive groups'.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 154 around 10am on Wednesday, the metropolis ranked fourth in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
Chile's Santiago, Pakistan's Lahore and Saudi Arabia's Riyadh occupied the first three spots, with AQI scores of 162, 160 and 155, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
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.
Read: Global Covid cases top 584 million
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.
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 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.
NSU student found dead at Bogura hotel
A 24-year-old student of North South University (NSU) was found dead in a hotel room in Bogura. Police suspect he committed suicide.
The deceased was identified as Tanvirul Islam alias Aqib, a 4th-year student of the university. He was from Kolagachia village of Barguna's Bamna upazila and son of Nazrul Islam.
Read: Schoolgirl dies after being hit by microbus in Bagerhat
Aqib, police said, checked into Shyamoli Hotel around midnight on Monday. The hotel staff informed cops after Aqib did not respond despite repeated knocks on the door on Tuesday noon, the officer said.
"Upon breaking down the door and entering the hotel room, we found the body hanging from the ceiling of the hotel room. He may have committed suicide,” said Salim Reza, OC of Bogura Sadar Police Station.
Police recovered the body and sent it to the Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College and Hospital morgue for an autopsy.
Global Covid cases top 584 million
The overall number of Covid cases has now surged past 584 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 584,040,671 and the death toll reached 6,423,422 on Wednesday morning.
The US has recorded 93,319,702 cases so far and 1,055,975 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
India reported 13,734 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,060,649 in the country, according to federal health ministry data released on Tuesday.
The country also logged 34 related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 526,430.
Read: US lauds Bangladesh’s response to Covid-19
The daily positivity rate stands at 3.34 percent and the weekly positivity rate was 4.79 percent.
The Chinese mainland Tuesday reported 38 locally transmitted confirmed Covid cases, including 12 in Hainan and 10 in Gansu, according to the National Health Commission's report Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Singapore reported 10,230 new cases of Covid on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 1,728,995.
Four more deaths were reported from Covid on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 1,524, the country's health ministry said.
Covid in Bangladesh
Bangladesh reported 142 Covid-linked deaths and 31,422 cases in July, the highest death toll and cases in the last five months since March this year, said the health authorities.
Among the deceased, 57 were unvaccinated while seven received the first dose, 52 the second dose and 26 the third dose of a Covid vaccine according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Read: Covid-19 vaccine consignment for kids arrive in Dhaka
Besides, 34,901 patients recovered from the disease during this period.
The country recorded 85 deaths with 8,000 cases in March while 1,114 cases with five deaths in April, 816 cases with four deaths in May and 20,278 cases with 18 deaths in June.
On Monday, it reported single death with 349 new cases.
So far, the country's total fatalities reached 29,292 and caseload 2,005,606.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.46 percent. The recovery rate rose to 96.90 percent on Monday.
Bangladesh reported its first zero Covid death on November 20 last year since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
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.
Mahmuda gets USAID's Laura W. Bush Award
Mahmuda Rahman Khan has been chosen as the recipient of USAID's Laura W. Bush Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Global Women's Equality.
USAID Bangladesh made the announcement on Tuesday.
Mahmuda is USAID's longest-serving gender advisor in Asia -- and likely in the rest of the world.
She has 17 years of dedicated, exemplary service.
Mahmuda's many achievements include fostering collaboration with the government of Bangladesh (GOB) and other stakeholders to advance women's empowerment, helping the GOB develop its National Action Plan on Violence Against Women, integrating gender in its various Five Year Plans, initiating the Embassy's first-ever celebration of International Women's Day in 2006 -- and every year since.
Read: Make world free from threat of nuclear weapons: Dhaka
Mahmuda has worked tirelessly working to build the capacity of USAID and Embassy staff, as well as USAID partners, to integrate gender into their work.
"Congratulations, Mahmuda! We are so proud of you and grateful for your contributions to USAID and Embassy Dhaka -- and to gender equality in Bangladesh," USAID Bangladesh said in a Facebook post.
E-waste management should be safe and environmentally friendly: Nasrul Hamid
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged all to ensure proper management of electronic waste.
“E-waste management should be safe and environment friendly. With the increased use of technology, electronic waste will go up. So, everybody has to be cautious about the management of e-waste,” he said while virtually addressing a function titled: “Green World of New Generation” organized by the Walton Laptop in the city.
Read: Power crisis will not last long: Nasrul Hamid
He said electronic waste will be a major hazard for the world in future.
The function was also addressed by chairman of Walton DG-tech Industries SM Rezaul Karim and managing director of Walton Hi-tech Industries PLC Golam Morshed.
Nasrul Hamid said nowadays many countries in the world are exporting e-wastes while many spare parts are being produced from the recycling of electronic waste.
He noted that Bangladesh has also framed the E-waste Management-2021 Regulations for the management of the risky electronic wastes.
Welcoming the initiative of Walton in this regard, he said the most modern technology should be used in E-waste management.
Lawyer who earned Tk 26 crore from Grameen Telecom workers union asked to explain his fee
The High Court (HC) on Tuesday asked Supreme Court lawyer Yusuf Ali, who took Tk 26 crore as fees from the workers’ union of Grameen Telecom, to submit details of it.
The HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar passed the order after hearing the issue.
The court directed Yusuf Ali to submit a clear report about the fees with an affidavit on Thursday.
Lawyer Ahsanul Karim, Robiul Alam Budu, Sayeed Ahmed Raza and Anik R Haque stood for Yousuf Ali while lawyer Mostafizur Rahman Khan stood for Grameen Telecom.
Yusuf Ali on behalf of ‘The Grameen Telecom union of workers and employees’ appeared in cases in different courts against Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Telecom before the parties reached an out-of-court settlement over the claim of the employees.
Earlier on Monday, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sent a letter to Grameen Telecom after starting an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of money.
Read: ACC investigation into Grameen Telecom underway
The ACC sent a letter on Sunday (July 31) asking for the information of four members of the board of directors of Grameen Telecom including Muhammad Yunus.
On February 7 this year, the workers’ union of Grameen Telecom filed a petition to the High Court seeking its liquidation.
Mahmud Hasan Feroz, secretary of the ‘Grameen Telecom union of workers and employees’ filed the petition on behalf of the members.
ACC chair addresses Reporters Against Corruption
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah has said that no news should be published which favours corrupt people.
He said this in his speech as the chief guest at the inauguration of the office of journalists' organization Reporters Against Corruption (RAC) in Segunbagicha on Tuesday.
"You should bring up the truth. Do not write anything that harms the country and nation," he said.
Read: ACC investigation into Grameen Telecom underway
Alongside, he asked the journalists to check the information again and again before writing anything.
"Before making news, think how much it is good for the nation, everyone should take care that the news does not go in favor of the corrupt," he also said.
Commissioners- Mozammel Haque Khan, Zahurul Haque and ACC Secretary Mahbub Hossain, RAC President Mohiuddin Ahmed and General Secretary Towhid Sourav were present.