Vaccine
Covid-19: 36 more deaths, 2,198 infections in Bangladesh
Bangladesh saw the deaths of 24 more men and 12 women from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours until early Monday.
Official optimistic virus vaccine will be OK’d
A top medical adviser to President Donald Trump’s administration saId Sunday he’s confident that the Food and Drug Administration will approve the coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical company Pfizer this week.
Vaccine still a challenge for Bangladesh, many others: Dr Friedman
As the world awaits a Covid-19 vaccine, a US public health expert says the vast majority of people in Bangladesh and other parts of the world will have to wait a bit longer than expected due to limited global capacity of vaccine production.
Govt taken all-out preparation to procure Covid-19 vaccine: PM
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday assured the countrymen that the government has taken all-out preparations to bring COVID-19 vaccine whenever it will be available.
"The vaccine is about to be invented, research works are going on. We've given advance booking so that we could bring a vaccine at once after its invention. We're taking steps for that purpose. We've taken all-out preparations for that," she said while delivering her winding-up speech in the Parliament.
Responding to criticism from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Jatiya Party leader GM Quader, she said that educational institutions were opened in America and European countries including UK, but later they shut down all as the infection of coronavirus was shooting up alarmingly.
"We've also discussed to open our educational institutions. If opened, students, teachers and guardians would go to the respective institutions. Coronavirus is contagious, a vaccine is yet to be invented. Why should we take the risk? We can't push our people towards death risk. We've to keep that in our mind too," she said.
Biden advisers to meet vaccine firms as Trump stalls handoff
Joe Biden’s scientific advisers will meet with vaccine makers in coming days as the presidential transition remains stalled because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that he lost the election. That delayed handoff is especially problematic during a public health crisis, the government’s top infectious disease expert said.
Don’t be panicked about possible second wave of Covid-19: Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday urged the people not to be panicked, assuring them that the government has taken preparations to tackle the possible second wave of Covid-19.
The second wave has already occurred in many countries and it may hit Bangladesh as well, he said.
“We’ll face the second wave of Covid-19 with concerted efforts,” he said at a programme at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in the afternoon. “We’ve taken adequate preparations to this end.”
Minister Maleque said they are taking steps to procure vaccines as directed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He noted that the government is spending Tk 15,000 on each Covid-19 patient and Tk 47,000 for each Intensive Care Unit patient in hospitals. “We’re spending on average Tk 1-1.5 lakh for each coronavirus patient, he said.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
Bangladesh on Monday recorded 1,736 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 4,109,88. Besides, 25 more patients died from Covid-19 during the period, taking the fatalities to 5,966.
So far, 327,901 patients have recovered -- 1,961 in the last 24 hours. The fatality rate in Bangladesh is 1.45 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8. The number of cases reached the 300,000-mark on August 26. The first death was reported on March 18 and the death toll exceeded 5,000 on Sept 22.
So far, 23,61,702 tests have been carried out, including 12,891 new tests, and 17.4 percent of them have turned out to be positive.
Global Situation
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has surpassed 46.4 million globally with nearly 1.2 million fatalities on Monday, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
The death toll from Covid-19 in the world reached 1,199,693 while the total caseload surpassed 46,437,615 in the morning.
The US has registered 230,967 deaths with 9,201,500 infections – both the highest in the world. India comes in second in terms of cases (8,184,082), while the country's death toll soared to 122,111.
Coronavirus cases were first reported in China in December last year. The World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic in March.
Also read: Talks underway to procure Covid-19 vaccines: Health Minister
Vaccine agreement in '2-4 days': Health Minister
Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said that an agreement to get supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine once it is approved would hopefully be reached in the next 'two to four days'.
Bharat Biotech to begin phase-3 trials of Covid vaccine soon
Bharat Biotech is likely to start the phase-3 trial of its coronavirus vaccine in India next month after receiving approval from the drug regulatory authority.
US drug maker Eli Lilly pauses antibody trial over safety concerns
US drug maker Eli Lilly said it has paused its trial of a combination antibody treatment for COVID-19 for safety reasons.
Globe Biotech wants to make Covid vaccine available by Jan
Claiming that they have got very promising results from pre-clinical trials on rabbits and mice of the coronavirus vaccine styled ‘BNCOVID’ developed by it, Bangladesh’s Globe Biotech Ltd on Monday said they want to bring it to the market by January next if they are allowed to launch the first phase of human trials very soon.