Zahid Maleque
No lockdown for health sector: Minister
There will be no lockdown for the health sector in Bangladesh as the number of Covid patients is increasing day by day, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday.
Talking to reporters at the Secretariat, he also said there would be police, BGB and army members on the streets to monitor people and vehicles during the lockdown to be enforced to slow down the coronavirus transmission.
Also read: Export oriented factories to remain open amid ‘strict lockdown’
The minister hoped that people across the country would abide by the health guidelines by wearing masks, maintaining social distance and sanitizing hands.
Also read: Health minister hopes to get 11 crore vaccine doses by December
Already, 5,000 to 6,000 Covid patients have been admitted to hospitals across the country, the minister said, adding: "We’ve got a very large population. If we want to protect that population from infections, we must follow the health protocols."
Zahid Maleque said the country’s economy would suffer badly if the coronavirus is not effectively controlled.
Also read: Nationwide lockdown from Monday, 'all out lockdown’ from July 1
The government is set to enforce a nationwide partial lockdown from Monday and it will turn into a complete one from Thursday.
Health minister hopes to get 11 crore vaccine doses by December
Bangladesh hopes to procure 11 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines from different sources by December enabling it to provide the jabs to over five crore people, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Saturday.
Speaking at Manikganj Maleque said that negotiations are at an advanced level to sign a vaccine agreement with Russia.
He also added that the country will also receive doses of the Moderna vaccine very soon.
Read: Bangladesh to get 2.5 mn doses of Moderna vaccine
The minister also stated that negotiations with the relevant stakeholders to manufacture vaccines in the country are going on in full swing.
Bangladesh to get 2.5 mn doses of Moderna vaccine
Bangladesh will soon get 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine under COVAX facility as the country’s desperate wait for vaccines from many sources is getting longer.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller have confirmed it.
COVAX, the global vaccine alliance, has already written to Bangladesh that the Moderna vaccine shots will be arriving here within seven to 10 days.
Also read: Bangladesh to get $ 940 mln ADB loans for procuring Covid vaccine
Ambassador Miller tweeted saying that Bangladesh will soon receive a gift of 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from the American people via GAVI.
Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine
Bangladesh on Tuesday began administering the first dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, marking a major turning point in its fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque inaugurated the inoculation programme at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.
On May 12, Bangladesh received 5 lakh China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine doses, donated by the Chinese government.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, China and Bangladesh have been supporting and assisting each other in their fight against the pandemic.
China has donated and is donating vaccine doses to 80 developing countries with urgent needs, and has provided support under COVAX for the emergency use of vaccines in developing countries.
Also read: Process to procure vaccine from China at final stage: FM
China has fulfilled its commitment to make the Covid-19 vaccine a global public good with practical actions, promoted the fair distribution of global vaccines and made China’s contribution to the realisation of vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
China says it will continue to make joint efforts with Bangladesh to make positive contributions to Bangladesh’s endeavour of protecting human lives and fight to win the battle against the pandemic, and together to build an even closer community of shared future and health for mankind.
Bangladesh to get 106,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine on June 2: Health Ministry
Bangladesh will receive a minimum of 1,06,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine by June 2, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Tuesday.
The doses will be sent to Bangladesh under the COVAX scheme which is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), said Maidul Islam, the public relation officer of the ministry.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks at least 2 mln doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from Canada
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has an efficacy of 95% against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.
However, preliminary laboratory studies of the mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna have shown decreased effectiveness against the double mutant variants discovered in India, WHO said in a note.
Read: Vaccine production in Bangladesh: Experts 'vehemently against private sector’s engagement'
Indian variant couldn't spread much: Health Minister
The highly contagious Indian variant of coronavirus did not spread much in Bangladesh, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Monday.
“This (Indian) variant has been found in a small number of patients in Bangladesh. It could not spread much as the border with the neighbouring country was closed in time," he said.
Also Read: Administering of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine to begin on May
In a briefing at his ministry, he advised keeping the border shut until India's situation stabilises.
Meanwhile, Maleque said that administering of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine will begin on May 25 or 26.
“Vaccine will be given to those who need it the most,” he said while responding to a question from reporters.
Also Read: No crisis of oxygen in hospitals: Health Minister
‘Good news soon’
Minister Maleque said the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will run out within seven to 10 days but the government is trying to get vaccines to continue the inoculation drive.
“We contacted the Indian High Commissioner, we talked to the UK authorities and the Prime Minister is also trying to get the vaccine doses,” he said.
Maleque said the government has taken some initiatives.
“We talked to the US, China, Russia and the UK and some progress has been made. Hopefully you will get a good news soon. As per contracts, we got only seven million doses out of 30 million. We’re also worried about the second dose of vaccine like you,” he added.
Vexed over vaccines
The Directorate General of Health Services announced this week that Bangladesh’s stock of Covid-19 vaccines was running out, with only some 1.4 million jabs remaining in government hands. Given the current crisis in India, there is little to no hope of receiving the next consignment in accordance with the contract signed between Beximco Pharmaceuticals and the Serum Institute of India anytime soon.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Robed Amin said, “We had around 10.02 million vaccine doses in our hands…around 8.8 have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we have some 1.4 million doses in stock.”
He went on to warn that there would be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted. Robed said around 5.8 million people have so far received the first dose of the vaccine while 3 million of them have got the second, booster dose to complete their course of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. That leaves 2.8 million people yet to complete the course, of which 1.4 million can be covered from the current stock, since the government has stopped registering any new recipients through the Shurokkha app.
Clearly, the priority has shifted to covering these people rather than reaching a situation where a large number of them are left in limbo, considering the uncertainty over when Serum may resume supplies. As reported before, the government is now looking at alternative suppliers, something they would possibly have been well-advised to do earlier, from Russia and China, as well as others. But in the absence of any clear data yet on whether the vaccines can be mixed or matched, concentrating the remaining doses on letting as many people as possible complete their course is only the right thing to do.
Till Eid, which is about when supplies are estimated to lost, you’re unlikely to see any new faces popping up on your social media feed with their ‘vaccine selfie’. Unless they skipped it the first time, which is unlikely.
From pillar to post
Reaffirming that the government is making all-out efforts to collect Covid-19 vaccines from different sources, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday (May 6) said they are now “at the stage” of signing a deal with Russia to procure the Sputnik V vaccine.
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, he said they are also trying to procure the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine from other countries besides India – AstraZeneca has licensed production in some 15 countries already.
Also read: Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
“We’ve been using the AstraZeneca vaccine as we had placed an order for 3 crore (30 million) doses of it. We’ve got only 70 lakh (7 million) jabs in addition to 30 lakh (3 million) that came as a gift…but now we don’t have that much vaccine in our stock and whatever is left will be given as the second dose,” the minister said.
He said the prime minister, Health Ministry, Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries are making joint efforts to procure vaccines from other sources.
“We’ve already made a huge progress in discussions with Russia over procuring its vaccine … now we’re at the stage of signing a deal in this regard,” Maleque said.
He said they are also in talks with China to have Sinopharm’s Covid vaccine. “They informed us that five lakh (500,000) doses will arrive in Bangladesh by May 12. We’ve also sent a letter to them seeking more vaccine doses.”
The minister said the Chinese government is now assessing the possibility of vaccine export to Bangladesh. It must be observed that it sounds like an uncharacteristically conservative offer from Beijing, for which the episode back in August 2020 comes to mind, when it all seemed very close to an agreement with the Chinese for vaccine supply, before the government seemed to get cold feet.
Getting back to Maleque, he was desperate to explain the government’s all-out efforts to get the vaccine. “Even, we’re trying to have AstraZeneca’s vaccine from other countries as it’s being manufactured in different countries. So, every effort is there to bring vaccines. We hope our efforts will yield good results, and we may be able to give you good news over the vaccine very soon,” he said.
The minister also said they will encourage the private sector if it tries to manufacture vaccines in Bangladesh. “If anyone can produce vaccines, we’ll provide all-out support, and it’s my commitment.”
Speaking at the same programme, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman said there is no alternative to vaccinating people to control the coronavirus. He too tried to assure everyone the government is working sincerely on procuring vaccines from Russia, China and other sources as there has been a crisis of AstraZeneca’s jabs in India.
Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
He gave some hint as to what the government is looking at as a way to get past the pandemic, saying that all the pandemics that emerged in the world earlier had been brought under control through vaccination, although that’s not entirely true. “We hope we’ll be able to control the corona pandemic by vaccinating 60-80 percent of our people.”
What sort of timeframe they’re looking at to achieve that is up in the air, but it could be a good 2 years. Cases have been coming down in Bangladesh recently, but you never know when there can be another wave. The lesson we must heed going forward, is that never to close out any options during this crisis. And not to rest on our haunches. In that, the public has a role too, most evidently in maintaining the public health guidelines we’re now getting used to.
A shot at salvation?
It is of course well-documented by now that the pandemic has exposed some dangerous inequities between the rich world and the rest. The kind of problem the Bangladeshi authorities are dealing with today is scarcely seen in the West. While one in four citizens of rich nations have had a vaccine, just one in 500 people in poorer countries have done so, meaning the death toll continues to climb as the virus remains out of control. According to Oxfam, an international NGO, epidemiologists are predicting we have less than a year before mutations could render the current vaccines ineffective.
One of the reasons Pharma companies have been able to generate such large profits is because of intellectual property Last week, 175 former heads of state and Nobel Prize winners, including Gordon Brown, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Francoise Hollande wrote to President Biden to support the temporary waiving of intellectual property rights that restrict production to a handful of companies (those that develop the vaccine and others who obtain the license from them), to enable the rapid scale up of vaccine production across the world. They join the 1.5 million people in the US and other nations who have signalled their support for a People’s Vaccine.
Over 100 low- and middle-income nations, led by India and South Africa, are calling at the World Trade Organisation for a waiver of intellectual property protections on COVID-19 products during the pandemic, a move that had so far been opposed by the US, EU and other rich nations.
In a major shift, the Biden administration in the US this week joined the calls for more sharing of the technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to help speed the end of the pandemic, a shift that puts the US alongside many in the developing world who want rich countries to do more to get doses to the needy.
Also read: Can you mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines?
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the government’s position, amid World Trade Organisation talks about a possible temporary waiver of its protections that would allow more manufacturers to produce the life-saving vaccines.
“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Tai said in a statement.
She cautioned that it would take time to reach the required global “consensus” to waive the protections under WTO rules, and US officials said it would not have an immediate effect on the global supply of COVID-19 shots.
In a tweet, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John N. Nkengasong, said the Africa CDC welcomed the waiver and called the decision “leadership in action.” He added: “History will remember this decision as a great act of humanity!”
Tai’s announcement came hours after WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to a closed-door meeting of ambassadors from developing and developed countries that have been wrangling over the issue, but agree on the need for wider access to COVID-19 treatments.
The WTO’s General Council took up the issue of a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. The idea has gained support among some progressive lawmakers in the West.
More than 100 countries have come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 members of Congress — all fellow Democrats of Biden — sent him a letter last month that called on him to support the waiver.
Opponents — especially from industry — say a waiver would be no panacea. They insist that production of coronavirus vaccines is complex and can’t be ramped up by easing intellectual property. They also say lifting protections could hurt future innovation.
Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the US decision “will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines.”
Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization trade group, said in a statement that the decision will undermine incentives to develop vaccines and treatments for future pandemics.
“Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine,” she said.
Also read: More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
Pfizer declined to comment on Biden’s announcement, as did Johnson & Johnson, which developed a one-dose vaccine meant to ease vaccination campaigns in poor and rural areas. Moderna and AstraZeneca didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The companies have made some efforts to provide vaccine doses to poor countries at prices well below what they’re charging wealthy nations.
For instance, Johnson & Johnson agreed last week to provide up to 220 million doses of its vaccine to the African Union’s 55 member states, starting in this year’s third quarter, and agreed in December to provide up to 500 million vaccines through 2022 for low-income countries via Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.
Shares of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — huge companies with many lucrative products — fell less than 1% on the news. But Moderna, whose vaccine is the company’s only product, fell 6.2% in late-afternoon trading before gaining back two-thirds of a percent in after-hours trading.
It remained unclear how some countries in Europe, which have influential pharmaceutical industries and had previously shared U.S. reservations about the waiver, would respond.
WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said a panel on intellectual property at the trade body was expected to take up the waiver proposal again at a “tentative” meeting later this month, before a formal meeting June 8-9. That means any final deal could be weeks away at best.
Authors of the proposal have been revising it in hopes of making it more palatable.
Okonjo-Iweala, in remarks posted on the WTO website, said it was “incumbent on us to move quickly to put the revised text on the table, but also to begin and undertake text-based negotiations.”
“I am firmly convinced that once we can sit down with an actual text in front of us, we shall find a pragmatic way forward” that is “acceptable to all sides,” she said.
Co-sponsors of the idea were shuttling between different diplomatic missions to make their case, according to a Geneva trade official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. A deadlock persists, and opposing sides remain far apart, the official said.
The argument, part of a long-running debate about intellectual property protections, centres on lifting patents, copyrights and protections for industrial design and confidential information to help expand the production and deployment of vaccines during supply shortages. The aim is to suspend the rules for several years, just long enough to beat down the pandemic.
The issue has become more pressing with a surge in cases in India, the world’s second-most populous country and a key producer of vaccines — including one for COVID-19 that relies on technology from Oxford University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca.
Michael Yee, a Jefferies Group biotech analyst, wrote to investors that the key access issues for developing countries aren’t patents or price, but an inadequate supply of the materials needed and the know-how to produce the vaccines and keep quality high — which one of Johnson & Johnson’s contract manufacturers in the U.S. failed to do, ruining millions of doses.
“Manufacturing supplies, raw materials, vials, stoppers, and other key materials are in limited supply for 2021,” and may still be next year and beyond, Yee wrote. That’s partly because it takes time to make all those components, and Moderna and Pfizer have commitments to buy them “from major suppliers in huge bulk over the foreseeable future.”
He added that Pfizer previously sought authorization to sell its vaccine to India, which rejected its application and asked that additional studies be run. The U.S., European Union and many other countries have given that emergency authorization.
Proponents, including WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, note that such waivers are part of the WTO toolbox and insist there’s no better time to use them than during the once-in-a-century pandemic that has taken 3.2 million lives, infected more than 437 million people and devastated economies, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“This is a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19,” Tedros said in Wednesday statement. He said the U.S. commitment “to support the waiver of IP protections on vaccines is a powerful example of American leadership to address global health challenges.”
Additional reporting by Masudul Hoque and AP.
Mall crowds may bring back Covid nightmare, warns minister
Voicing concerns over huge crowds at shopping malls violating health safety rules, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday warned that the coronavirus transmission may spike again if this trend continues till Eid-ul-Fitr.
“The government has allowed reopening shops and shopping malls on the occasion of eid, but the crowds we’re seeing there will surely contribute to the virus surge again,” he said.
The minister said, “What if you don’t buy clothes for an Eid? The government has reopened markets, but it’s up to us whether to go or not there. Many women go shopping with children without wearing masks. Though we’ve given various instructions in this regard, people aren’t maintaining the health safety rules accordingly.”
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, he said people must cooperate with the government in containing the virus by maintaining health safety rules, physical distancing and wearing masks.
Describing lockdown as the most effective way of controlling coronavirus transmission, he said the ongoing lockdown has helped reduce the coronavirus infections and death rates in the country. “But lockdown is not a long-term solution as it affects the economy and the livelihoods of people.”
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
The minister said the government resumed bus services in the capital and districts due to pressure from various quarters.
Zahid Maleque said the coronavirus infection came under control early this year, but the second wave of the virus has created due to people’s reckless attitude, travelling spree, mass gathering, and apathy to the health safety rules.
“We forget the past and didn’t take a lesson from it. We should keep in mind how people are suffering and dying due to the oxygen crisis in India. So, we should keep our country well by following the health safety guidelines,” he said.
No chance of oxygen crisis unless any dramatic change: Minister
As Bangladesh grapples with the second wave of coronavirus infections with hospitals overstretched, one major concern that has arisen is the availability of medical grade oxygen for critical Covid-19 patients.
Amid the growing worries over a steady supply of the lifesaving element, Health Minister Zahid Maleque has assured the people of the country that there will not be any shortage of oxygen unless the situation worsens dramatically.
His clarification came at a time when India, struggling with an acute oxygen crisis, stopped its export to Bangladesh.
Also read: DNCC Market Hospital to get 200 new ICU beds: Health Minister
"We don’t import oxygen from India all year long. We needed to import oxygen from India during a huge upsurge in Covid cases. But if the situation remains stable, there’ll be no shortage of oxygen in the country," he told UNB.
Maleque said Bangladesh is not that much dependent on liquid oxygen. “In fact, we rely more on gas oxygen. So, even if we face a shortage of liquid oxygen, it won't be a big deal," he added.
Medical grade oxygen is needed for treating critical Covid-19 patients who develop hypoxaemia – the shortage of oxygen in the blood – which is one of the main causes of death.
The minister said the demand for medical-grade oxygen is currently around 100-150 tonnes.
The government produces 250 tonnes of gaseous and 150-200 tonnes of liquid oxygen every day. The private sector also produces around 40-50 tonnes of oxygen a day. "So, unless there’s any dramatic upsurge in Covid-19 cases which forces the demand to double overnight, we’ll be fine," he assured.
He said the government has asked hospitals to increase the use of gaseous oxygen in order to avoid misuse of liquid oxygen.
Also read: No crisis of oxygen in hospitals: Health Minister
Minister Maleque said the health authorities are in constant touch with industries so that liquid oxygen can be collected on short notice when needed.
‘Minor oxygen crisis’
However, Senior Secretary Md Anisur Rahman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division admitted that there is a minor oxygen crisis in the country following the Indian export ban.
"We’ve told private companies that produce liquid oxygen to supply it to the hospitals and clinics at the moment," he said.
Rahman said there is nothing to worry as the government will deal with the situation very swiftly.
Diverting oxygen to hospitals
Chief Inspector of Explosives Department Abul Kalam Azad told UNB that they asked five oxygen producing companies on April 23 to cut off the supply of oxygen for industrial use and direct it to hospitals.
According to the letter, hospitals and clinics are in need of rapid medical oxygen supply as the number of Covid-19 patients has recently increased.
It was sent to Linde Bangladesh, Spectra Oxygen Limited, Islam Oxygen Limited, DR Industries Limited, and M/S Bangladesh Industrial Gas Limited.
Also read: No alternative to increasing hospital capacity: Health Minister
According to sources at the health ministry, the daily production capacity of Linde Bangladesh is 90 tonnes, Islam Oxygen Ltd 40 tonnes and Spectra 37 tonnes.
Saiqa Mazed, General Manager (Human Resources) of Linde Bangladesh, told UNB that they are not giving it to industries following the government’s directive. “The whole amount now goes directly to hospitals and clinics,” she said, hoping that if the number of Covid cases remain as it is, there won't be any shortage of medical oxygen.
When asked about oxygen import from a source other than India, she said it would be expensive since Bangladesh can bring oxygen from the neighbouring country by road.
No crisis of oxygen in hospitals: Health Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday said there is nothing to be worried over the sudden halt in oxygen import from India since the country has the capacity to meet the current demand of it from the internal sources.
“Coronavirus has devastated India for lack of oxygen. We’re now not getting oxygen from India. But there’s nothing to be worried about. We don’t import oxygen from India round the year. When corona reached its peak, we imported 40-50 tonnes of oxygen,” he said.
Speaking at a press briefing on the premises of Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS), the minister said, “Oxygen has not been coming from India for four-five days, but we’re managing everything and we’ve no crisis of oxygen.”
He said hospitals not only use liquid oxygen, but also gas oxygen. “There’s no dearth of gas oxygen in Bangladesh due to the huge production capability of it.”
Before installing the oxygen lines at the hospitals, Maleque said gas oxygen were mostly being used in the country’s hospitals. “We’ve planned to buy the liquid oxygen from local producers and provide it to our hospitals. Our 40-50 hospitals have the facilities to use the gas oxygen and we've asked them to use gas oxygen.”
Also read: Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole
He said so far Bangladesh is in a fairly good position in terms of Oxygen supply and production.
The minister said they have also booked 40 tonnes of oxygen in the industrial sector for the use of patients in case of emergency.
He said there is now no crisis of oxygen in the country’s hospitals to deal with the Covid patients. "If the number of Covid patients rises three times and reaches 21,000 from the current 7,000 then we won’t be able to meet the demand for oxygen. So, we must take steps to reduce the Covid infections."
Maleque said the DGHS has already contacted industries that use liquid oxygen to collect it from using it during the crisis. "We’re planning to import small oxygen plants.”
Also read: 25 die in Delhi hospital due to oxygen shortage
He said the government has set up central oxygen lines in 100 hospitals so that the covid patients can have it whenever necessary. “We’re installing the oxen plants in some other hospitals and it’ll be completed by 10-15 days.”
The minister said there was no high-flow nasal cannula and oxygen concentrator in the country when the coronavirus first hit it, but now around 3,000 such equipment are being used in Bangladesh to provide treatment to the Covid patients.
He said coronavirus cannot be controlled by giving treatment to the affected patients. “We’ve now 7,000 beds. If the number of patients increases to 21,000, we won’t be able to accommodate them. We should keep it in mind.”
Maleque said all must maintain the health safety rules, social distancing and wear masks to contain the virus transmission.
He said the coronavirus infection came under control early this year, but the second wave of the virus has created due to people’s reckless attitude, travelling spree, mass gathering, and apathy to the health safety rules. If we don’t take a lesson from such mistakes, the third wave may come.”
The health minister said 70 to 80 percent of infections and deaths have been reported in Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna City Corporation areas. “So, people in these areas need to remain aware and strictly follow the health safety rules."