coronavirus outbreak
Bangladesh loses 43 more lives to Covid-19, toll crosses 13,000
Covid-19 claimed 43 lives in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Friday morning as the upward march of the virus took the country's fatalities to 13,032.
The positivity rate which was 13.25% on Thursday – the highest in 46 days since April 25 this year – almost remained unchanged at 13.24%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The country logged 2,454 new cases after testing 18,535 samples as the administration of the first dose of the vaccine remains suspended here since April 26.
The new number took Bangladesh's caseload to 822,849. However, the recovery rate and fatality rate remained unchanged at 92.59% and 1.58%.
Rajshahi division saw the highest fatalities during the period with the death of 11 people while Chattogram witnessed 10 deaths, Dhaka eight, Khulna seven, Rangpur four, Barishal two, and Mymensingh one.
Also read: Bangladesh to get over 10 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX: FM
Vaccination drive
So far, four vaccines – Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield), Sputnik-V, Sinopharm, and Pfizer-BioNTech – have got the approval for emergency use in Bangladesh.
Europe tells tourists: Welcome back! Now work out the rules
Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists — and their dollars — to the continent’s trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.
As the European Union’s doors reopen one by one to the outside world for the first time since March 2020, tourists will discover a patchwork of systems instead of a single border-free leisure zone, because national governments have resisted surrendering control over their frontiers amid the pandemic. And post-Brexit Britain is going its own way altogether.
Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.
Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.
FRANCE
If you’re vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans — as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination — but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.
France’s borders officially reopened Wednesday. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few “green” countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.
Tourists are banned from 16 countries wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants that are on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.
Non-vaccinated visitors from “orange list” countries — including the U.S. and Britain — can’t come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.
Also read: Eyeing variant, France mulls tighter limits for UK tourists
ITALY
Americans — the second-biggest group of foreign tourists to Italy — have been welcome since mid-May. However, they need to self-isolate upon arrival for 10 days unless they arrive on so-called “COVID-tested flights.” That means passengers are tested before and after the flight and must fill out documents about their whereabouts to facilitate contact tracing if required.
“COVID-tested” flights from the U.S. started in December and have also been operating since May from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Italy also started allowing tourists from Britain and Israel last month, meaning they no longer need an “essential” reason to visit and don’t have to self-isolate, providing they present proof of a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.
The same rules apply to travelers from EU countries and those on “COVID-tested” flights from the U.S., Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
GREECE
Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.
All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.
Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn’t wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.
SPAIN
Spain kicked off its summer tourism season Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.
Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization — as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.
Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.
Also read: Int'l tourist arrivals fall 87% in Jan: UNWTO
But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.
BRITAIN
There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the “amber” list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.
U.K. and U.S. airlines and airport operators are pushing for a travel corridor to allow tourism to resume, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to raise the issue when he meets President Joe Biden at a G-7 summit in England this week.
Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.
EUROPEAN UNION
The 27-nation EU has no unified COVID tourism or border policy, but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. EU lawmakers endorsed the plan Wednesday.
The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.
Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.
It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.
China proposes setting up int’l forum on vaccine cooperation
China has proposed setting up an international forum on vaccine cooperation for vaccine-developing and producing countries, companies and other stakeholders to explore ways of promoting fair and equitable distribution of vaccines around the world.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the proposal at the Global Health Summit on Friday.
He said China will provide an additional US$3 billion in international aid over the next three years to support COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery in other developing countries.
Also read: Covid vaccine: China to send additional 6 lakh doses as gift
Having already supplied 300 million doses of vaccines to the world, President Xi said, China will provide still more doses to the best of its ability.
He mentioned that China supports its vaccine companies in transferring technologies to other developing countries and carrying out joint production with them.
Having announced support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, China also supports the World Trade Organization and other international institutions in making an early decision on this matter, President Xi said.
PM provides Tk 74.81 cr for non-MPO teachers, employees
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday provided Tk 74.81 crore for 1,67,225 non-MPO teachers and employees of the country as they have been passing days in miseries to the pandemic that led to the closure of educational institutions for a long time.
According to a media release issued by the PMO Press Wing, there are 105,785 teachers and employees in general education while the number is 61,440 in madrasah and Ebtadayee Madrasah and vocational education.
Sheikh Hasina provided Tk 46.63 crore in favour of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Division while Tk 28.18 crore in favour of Vocational and Madrasah Education Division.
Also read: PM provides Tk 122 cr assistance for mosques
The release said that each teacher will get Tk 5,000 while the employees will get Tk 2,500 each.
On May 2, the Prime Minister provided cash support of Tk 2,500 to each 36.5 lakh low-income families engaged in different occupations so that they can survive in this tough time.
Each family directly received Tk 2,500 through G2P (Government-to-Person) as the cash will be sent through mobile financial services (MFS) – Nagad, bKash, Rocket and SureCash.
Also read: PM provides financial assistance to 6,959 Qawmi madrasas
More than Tk 1,500 crore has already been allocated to ease the sufferings of the marginalised people during the second wave of coronavirus.
Soon after the second wave of coronavirus came in sight, the Prime Minister instantly directed the authorities concerned to start the activities of humanitarian assistance.
Since the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced from April 14 last, marginalised people like temporary workless people, destitute, day-labourers, rickshaw- and van-pullers, transport workers, the third gender and beggars in urban and rural areas.
Also read: PM provides financial assistance to 8 organisations
As per the PM’s directive, the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry instantly sent Tk 590 crore to the field-level administration to provide support to the needy people and the disbursement of the money continues.
Besides, the Prime Minister allocated Tk 10.5 crore against deputy commissioners from her relief and welfare fund to provide emergency assistance to the poor and destitute.
The Prime Minister has also provided Tk 10 crore to the Journalist Welfare Trust as assistance for the journalists who are facing hardship due to the fallout of the pandemic.
As India surges, Bangladesh lacks jabs, faces virus variants
India’s surge in coronavirus cases is having a dangerous effect on neighboring Bangladesh. Health experts warn of imminent vaccine shortages just as the country should be stepping up its vaccination drive, and as more contagious virus variants are beginning to be detected.
On Saturday, health authorities said that for the first time, a coronavirus variant originally identified in India was detected in Bangladesh, without providing further details. For weeks, South African variants have dominated the samples sequenced in Bangladesh. There are concerns that these versions spread more easily and that first-generation vaccines could be less effective against them.
Experts say that declining infections in Bangladesh over the last two weeks compared to March and early April — for reasons that aren’t fully understood — provided the perfect opportunity for the nation to scale up vaccinations.
Also read: Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
“This is the time to vaccinate, keep infections low and make sure that new variants don’t emerge here,” said Senjuti Saha, a scientist at the Child Health Research Foundation in Bangladesh, who is also sequencing the virus.
However, India has banned the export of vaccines as it grapples with the crisis at home. The country’s Serum Institute was supposed to supply 30 million vaccine doses — 5 million doses a month — to Bangladesh by June. But the institute has only supplied 7 million doses and has suspended further shipments since February.
“It’s caused a real problem,” said Dr. A.S.M. Alamgir, a scientist with the government’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research.
Also read: Border with India to remain shut for another 14 days
Fearing shortages, the government late last month stopped allowing people to register for a first vaccine dose, and the administration of second doses is also being hampered.
The densely-populated country of 160 million is desperately seeking new avenues for vaccines other than India, and is attempting to produce Russian and Chinese vaccines at home by bringing technology from both countries. Bangladesh is expecting 500,000 doses of Chinese vaccines next week as a gift from Beijing, and has also sought help from the United States.
Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, a scientist of the Dhaka-based International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, said threats from new variants remained a big concern, especially when vaccines are not available.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Although the border with India is closed to people, goods continue to cross. Virus sequencing in Bangladesh, like other countries including the U.S., has been scant. This means there could easily be blind spots.
“We can’t rule out that the Indian variant would not make a new wave in Bangladesh. We have a porous border with India,” Alamgir said.
Since March of last year, when the first COVID-19 case was detected in Bangladesh, the country has reported 770,842 confirmed virus cases and 11,833 deaths.
Also read: India's surge hits southern states, prompts more lockdowns
A nationwide lockdown has been extended until at least May 16, but many businesses, markets and local transportation remain crowded. Although inter-city travel is banned, tens of thousands are expected to leave the capital of Dhaka for their home villages to celebrate next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
“If we fail to maintain safety procedures across the country, the virus will make its natural progression, that’s for sure,” he said.
EU says US stand on patent virus waiver is no ‘magic bullet’
European Union leaders cranked up their criticism of the U.S. call to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents Saturday, arguing the move would yield no short-term or intermediate improvement in vaccine supplies and could even have a negative impact.
On the second day of an EU summit in Portugal, the European leaders instead urged Washington to lift export restrictions if it wants to have a global impact on the pandemic.
“We don’t think, in the short term, that it’s the magic bullet,” European Council President Charles Michel said. French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that giving any priority now to a discussion of intellectual property rights “is a false debate.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, home to many Big Pharma companies, went the farthest of all, cautioning that relaxing patent rules could harm efforts to adapt vaccines as the coronavirus mutates.
“I see more risks than opportunities,” Merkel said. “I don’t believe that releasing patents is the solution to provide vaccines for more people.”
Instead, the leaders joined previous EU calls for U.S. President Joe Biden to start boosting U.S. vaccine exports as a way to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, insisting that move was the most urgent need.
“I’m very clearly urging the U.S. to put an end to the ban on exports of vaccines and on components of vaccines that are preventing them being produced,” Macron said.
He mentioned the German company CureVac, saying it could not produce a vaccine in Europe because the necessary components were blocked in the United States. Hundreds of components can go into a vaccine.
Merkel said she hoped that “now that large parts of the American population have been vaccinated, there will be a free exchange of (vaccine) ingredients.”
“Europe has always exported a large part of its European (vaccine) production to the world, and that should become the rule,” the longtime German leader said.
While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world’s leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants.
The EU has distributed about 200 million doses within the bloc while about the same amount has been exported abroad to almost 90 countries. Former EU member Britain has acted similarly to the U.S.,
“First of all, you must open up,” Macron said in addressing the United States. “First of all, the Anglo-Saxons must stop their bans on exports.”
The EU is trying to regain the diplomatic initiative on vaccines after Biden put it on the back foot with his surprising endorsement of lifting patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines, seeking to solve the problem of getting shots into the arms of people in poorer countries.
Macron and other EU leaders have insisted that production capacity first must be ramped up by reconverting factories so they can quickly start producing vaccines through a transfer of technology.
“Today, there is not a factory in the world that cannot produce doses for poor countries because of a patent issue,” Macron said.
Developed nations should also increase vaccine donations to poorer countries, the EU leaders say in arguing that talking about patent waivers alone won’t cut it.
“We are willing to go into that discussion, but then we need a real 360-degree view on it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Largest congregation on Juma'atul Wida held at Hajiganj amid pandemic
The century-old 'Boro Masjid' in Hajiganj of Chandpur has earned a reputation of holding one of the largest congregations on Juma'atul Wida, the last Jumma (Friday) prayer of Ramadan, over the years.
This year was no different despite the risk of Covid-19 outbreak.
Around 1 lac people gathered at the mosque ignoring the scorching sun and wearing masks.
Although devotees were supposed to join prayers maintaining social distancing, by 11 am the first two floors of the huge mosque was filled to the brim by Muslim devotees.
Not only the mosque but also the surrounding Ahmadia Alia Madrasa grounds and buildings, Jamia Ahmadiyya Qawmi Madrasa Bhaban, Hajiganj Tower, Rajnigandha Market, Hajiganj Plaza, Business Prime Bank Bhaban and the former municipality building was completely occupied by the worshippers within 12:30 pm.
Also read: Juma’atul Wida observed
By 1 pm, the wave of Muslim devotees spread till the Cumilla-Chandpur regional highway which even halted the movement of transportation during the period.
At the end of the prayers, Imam and Khatib Alhaj Mufti Abdur Rauf offered special prayers for the welfare of the country and sought a world free of Covid -19.
During the munajat, the sky and air became muffled by the sound of worshippers saying 'Amin' after the imam.
Regarding the preparations for the Jamaat of Juma'atul Wida, Shakil Ahmed, the Motawalli (Acting) of the Hajiganj Historical Grand Mosque, said, "Due to the epidemic, special measures have been taken to perform Juma'atul Wida prayers this time as compared to other years. We have tried our best to serve the worshipers.
He further said that the police force of Hajiganj police station, various social organizations and local organizations have provided us with adequate support for the peaceful and orderly conduct of prayers. I express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to them and look forward to their continued support in the future.
Juma'atul Wida or the last Friday prayers in congregation in Ramadan, is meant for saying farewell to the glorious month of fasting.
More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
Several world leaders Thursday praised the U.S. call to remove patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor countries obtain shots. But the proposal faces a multitude of hurdles, including resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
Nor is it clear what effect such a step might have on the campaign to vanquish the outbreak.
Activists and humanitarian institutions cheered after the U.S. reversed course Wednesday and called for a waiver of intellectual property protections on the vaccine. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member World Trade Organization, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the proposal will fail.
The Biden administration announcement made the U.S. the first country in the developed world with big vaccine manufacturing to publicly support the waiver idea floated by India and South Africa in October. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron embraced it as well.
“I completely favor this opening up of the intellectual property,” Macron said at a vaccine center.
However, like many pharmaceutical companies, Macron insisted that a waiver would not solve the problem of access to vaccines. He said manufacturers in places like Africa are not now equipped to make COVID-19 vaccines, so donations of shots from wealthier countries should be given priority instead.
Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — all companies with licensed COVID-19 vaccines — had no immediate comment, though Moderna has long said it will not pursue rivals for patent infringement during the pandemic.
Also read: US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbors in Canada
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the urgency of moving fast now.
“On the current trajectory, if we don’t do more, if the entire world doesn’t do more, the world won’t be vaccinated until 2024,” he said in an interview with NBC while visiting Ukraine.
India, as expected, welcomed the move. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the U.S. position “great news.”
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook that the U.S. announcement was “a very important signal” and that the world needs “free access” to vaccine patents. But Italian Premier Mario Draghi was more circumspect.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would support it. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the U.S. decision too.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office spoke out against it, saying: “The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future.”
Also read: US support behind vaccine patent waiver ‘monumental moment’ in Covid fight: WHO
A Merkel spokeswoman, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Germany is focused instead on how to increase vaccine manufacturers’ production capacity.
In Brazil, one of the deadliest COVID-19 hot spots in the world, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said he fears that the country does not have the means to produce vaccines and that the lifting of patent protections could interfere with Brazil’s efforts to buy doses from pharmaceutical companies.
In closed-door talks at the WTO in recent months, Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Norway, Singapore and the United States opposed the waiver idea, according to a Geneva-based trade official who was not authorized the discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some 80 countries, mostly developing ones, have supported the proposal, the official said. China and Russia — two other major COVID-19 vaccine makers — didn’t express a position but were open to further discussion, the official said.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27-nation bloc is ready to talk about the idea, but she remained noncommittal and emphasized that the EU has been exporting vaccines widely — while the U.S. has not.
EU leaders said the bloc may discuss the matter at a summit that starts Friday.
Also read: US backs waiving intellectual property rules on vaccines
The pharmaceutical industry has argued that a waiver will do more harm than good in the long run.
Easing patent protections would eat into their profits, potentially reducing the incentives that push companies to innovate and make the kind of tremendous leaps they did with the COVID-19 vaccines, which have been churned out at a blistering, unprecedented pace.
The industry has contended, too, that production of the vaccines is complicated and can’t be ramped up simply by easing patent rights. Instead, it has said that reducing snarls in supply chains and shortages of ingredients is a more pressing issue.
The industry has insisted that a faster solution would be for rich countries to share their vaccine stockpiles with poorer ones.
“A waiver is the simple but the wrong answer to what is a complex problem,” said the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations. “Waiving patents of COVID-19 vaccines will not increase production nor provide practical solutions needed to battle this global health crisis.”
Intellectual property law expert Shyam Balganesh, a professor at Columbia University, said a waiver would only go so far because of bottlenecks in the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines.
Also read: EU medicine regulator starts rolling review of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine
Backers of the waiver say that expanded production by the big pharmaceutical companies and donations from richer countries to poor ones won’t be enough, and that there are manufacturers standing by that could make the vaccines if given the blueprints.
“A waiver of patents for #COVID19 vaccines & medicines could change the game for Africa, unlocking millions more vaccine doses & saving countless lives,” World Health Organization Africa chief Matshidiso Moeti tweeted.
Just over 20 million vaccine doses have been administered across the African continent, which has 1.3 billion people.
There is precedent: In 2003, WTO members agreed to waive patent rights and allow poorer countries to import generic treatments for the AIDS virus, malaria and tuberculosis.
“We believe that when the history of this pandemic is written, history will remember the move by the U.S. government as doing the right thing at the right time,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said.
Dhaka Premier League to begin on May 31 in T20 format
The Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) has decided to hold the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League (DPL) 2019-20 from 31 May 2021.
The previous season of the league was called off due to the surge of Covid-19 outbreak in the country after just one completed round of matches.
The competition will now have a fresh start and will be played in a T20 format instead of the usual 50 overs.
“The CCDM with the support of the BCB’s plan to organise the DPL from May 31,” CCDM Chairman Kazi Inam Ahmed was quoted in a media release sent by BCB on Sunday evening.
“As decided earlier it will be a T20 event. Considering the busy international schedule and the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, we believe that T20 is the ideal format for the 2019-20 League,” he added.
After the suspension of last year’s Dhaka League, BCB organized two makeshift events later last year— BCB President’s Cup and Bangabandhu T20 Cup. BCB had also started this year’s National Cricket League, but due to the recent surge of Covid-19 cases, they opted to hold it temporarily.
“The BCB president has given a clear direction on the importance of players’ safety during these times. The board has successfully completed two tournaments this season and has hosted the West Indies in Bangladesh. We will draw from these learnings and make plans for the Bangabandhu DPL accordingly. We know what this league means to the players and clubs and appreciate their support during the planning stage,” Kazi Inam further added.
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.