Bangladesh reported 12 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning. With the new numbers, the caseload rose to 2,036,597, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,433 as no death was reported during this period. The daily case test positivity rose to 0.45 per cent from Wednesdaday’s 0.81 per cent as 2,688 samples were tested during the period. Read more: Bangladesh logs 18 Covid cases in 24 hrs The mortality and the recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.51 per cent, respectively. In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1345 cases. Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year. Read more: 7-day Covid-19 vaccination campaign kicks off Thursday

The government will launch another seven-day special vaccination campaign against Covid-19 from Thursday. This campaign will send on December 7, Dr Shamsul Haque, director of the vaccination program of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told reporters on Wednesday. Read more: COVID-19: US vaccine donations to Bangladesh exceed 100 million Around 90 lakh people will be vaccinated under this campaign where 17,116 teams will provide the service, he added. Meanwhile, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 has recommended administering the fourth dose of Covid vaccine to contain the further spread of the virus, said Dr Shamsul Haque. It recommended bringing front liners, citizens aged above 60 and the pregnant women under the fourth dose vaccination progamme in the first phase, he said. Read more: JS body for quick completion of vaccine manufacturing plant work in Gopalganj So far, 87 percent of the total population, including children, have received the first dose in the country while 73 percent the second dose, he added.

Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death with 11 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Tuesday morning. With the new numbers, the fatalities rose to 29,433 and the caseload to 2,036,567, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Read more: Bangladesh logs another death, 29 Covid cases in 24 hrs The daily case test positivity dropped to 0.72 per cent from Monday’s 0.79 per cent as 1,520 samples were tested during the period. The deceased was a woman from Chattogram division. The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while the recovery rate rose to 97.51 per cent. Read more: China's Xi faces public anger over draconian 'zero COVID' In October, the country reported 60 Covid-linked deaths and 10,043 cases. Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.

With police out in force, there was no word of additional protests against strict government anti-pandemic measures Tuesday in Beijing, as temperatures fell well below freezing. Shanghai, Nanjing and other cities where online calls to gather had been issued were also reportedly quiet. Rallies against China’s unusually strict anti-virus measures spread to several cities over the weekend in the biggest show of opposition to the ruling Communist Party in decades. Authorities eased some regulations, apparently to try to quell public anger, but the government showed no sign of backing down on its larger coronavirus strategy, and analysts expect authorities to quickly silence the dissent. In Hong Kong Monday, about 50 students from mainland China sang at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and some lit candles in a show of support for those in mainland cities who demonstrated against restrictions that have confined millions to their homes. Hiding their faces to avoid official retaliation, the students chanted, “No PCR tests but freedom!” and “Oppose dictatorship, don’t be slaves!” The gathering and a similar one elsewhere in Hong Kong were the biggest protests there in more than a year under rules imposed to crush a pro-democracy movement in the territory, which is Chinese but has a separate legal system from the mainland. “I’ve wanted to speak up for a long time, but I did not get the chance to,” said James Cai, a 29-year-old from Shanghai who attended a Hong Kong protest and held up a piece of white paper, a symbol of defiance against the ruling party’s pervasive censorship. ”If people in the mainland can’t tolerate it anymore, then I cannot as well.” It wasn’t clear how many people have been detained since the protests began in the mainland Friday, sparked by anger over the deaths of 10 people in a fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi. That prompted angry questions online about whether firefighters or victims trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other anti-virus controls. Authorities denied that, but the incident became a target for public frustration about the controls. Read more: China's Xi faces public anger over draconian 'zero COVID' Without mentioning the protests, the criticism of Xi or the fire, some local authorities eased restrictions Monday. The city government of Beijing announced it would no longer set up gates to block access to apartment compounds where infections are found. “Passages must remain clear for medical transportation, emergency escapes and rescues,” said Wang Daguang, a city official in charge of epidemic control, according to the official China News Service. Guangzhou, a manufacturing and trade center that is the biggest hot spot in China’s latest wave of infections, announced some residents will no longer be required to undergo mass testing. The U.S. Embassy advised citizens to prepare for all eventualities and said Ambassador Nicholas Burns and other American diplomats have “regularly raised our concerns on many of these issues directly." “We encourage all U.S. citizens to keep a 14-day supply of medications, bottled water, and food for yourself and any members of your household," the Embassy said in a statement Monday. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby “obviously, there are people in China that — that have — have concerns about that," referring to lockdowns. “And they’re protesting that, and we believe they should be able to do that peacefully," Kirby said at a Monday briefing. Urumqi, where the fire occurred, and another city in the Xinjiang region in the northwest announced markets and other businesses in areas deemed at low risk of infection would reopen this week and public bus service would resume. “Zero COVID,” which aims to isolate every infected person, has helped to keep China’s case numbers lower than those of the United States and other major countries. But tolerance for the measures has flagged as people in some areas have been confined at home for up to four months and say they lack reliable access to food and medical supplies. The ruling party promised last month to reduce disruption by changing quarantine and other rules known as the “20 Guidelines." But a spike in infections has prompted cities to tighten controls. On Tuesday, the number of daily cases dipped slightly to 38,421 after setting new records over recent days. Of those, 34,860 were among people who showed no symptoms. The ruling party newspaper People’s Daily called for its anti-virus strategy to be carried out effectively, indicating Xi’s government has no plans to change course. “Facts have fully proved that each version of the prevention and control plan has withstood the test of practice,” a People’s Daily commentator wrote. Read more: Protests over China's COVID controls spread across country In Hong Kong, protesters at Chinese University put up posters that said, “Do Not Fear. Do Not Forget. Do Not Forgive,” and sang including “Do You Hear the People Sing?” from the musical “Les Miserables.” Most hid their faces behind blank white sheets of paper. “I want to show my support,” said a 24-year-old mainland student who would identify herself only as G for fear of retaliation. “I care about things that I couldn’t get to know in the past.” University security guards videotaped the event but there was no sign of police. At an event in Central, a business district, about four dozen protesters held up blank sheets of paper and flowers in what they said was mourning for the fire victims in Urumqi and others who have died as a result of “zero COVID” policies. Police cordoned off an area around protesters, who stood in small, separate groups to avoid violating pandemic rules that bar gatherings of more than 12 people. Police took identity details of participants but there were no arrests. Hong Kong has tightened security controls and rolled back Western-style civil liberties since China launched a campaign in 2019 to crush a pro-democracy movement. The territory has its own anti-virus strategy that is separate from the mainland. Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee is a law-and-order hardliner who led the crackdown on protesters, including on university campuses. Both the Hong Kong government and the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued statements Monday pledging to uphold public order and the authority of the National Security Law, which gives authorities sweeping powers to charge demonstrators with crimes including sedition. Protests also occurred over the weekend in Guangzhou near Hong Kong, Chengdu and Chongqing in the southwest, and Nanjing in the east, according to witnesses and video on social media. Guangzhou has seen earlier violent confrontations between police and residents protesting quarantines. Most protesters have complained about excessive restrictions, but some turned their anger at Xi, China's most powerful leader since at least the 1980s. In a video that was verified by The Associated Press, a crowd in Shanghai on Saturday chanted, “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!” The British Broadcasting Corp. said one of its reporters was beaten, kicked, handcuffed and detained for several hours by Shanghai police but later released. The BBC criticized what it said was Chinese authorities’ explanation that its reporter was detained to prevent him from contracting the coronavirus from the crowd. “We do not consider this a credible explanation,” the broadcaster said in a statement. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said the BBC reporter failed to identify himself and “didn’t voluntarily present” his press credential. “Foreign journalists need to consciously follow Chinese laws and regulations,” Zhao said. Swiss broadcaster RTS said its correspondent and a cameraman were detained while doing a live broadcast but released a few minutes later. An AP journalist was detained but later released.

Bangladesh reported another Covid-linked death with 29 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Monday morning. With the new numbers, the fatalities rose to 29,432 and the caseload  to 2,036,556, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The daily case test positivity increased to 0.79 per cent from Sunday’s 0.67 per cent as 3,681 samples were tested during the period. Read more: Bangladesh registers 19 more Covid cases in 24hrs The mortality and the recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.50 per cent, respectively. In October, the country reported 60 Covid-linked deaths and 10,043 cases. Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year. Read more: Bangladesh logs 16 Covid cases in 24 hrs

Barely a month after granting himself new powers as China’s potential leader for life, Xi Jinping is facing a wave of public anger of the kind not seen for decades, sparked by his draconian “zero COVID” program that will soon enter its fourth year. Demonstrators poured into the streets over the weekend in numerous cities including Shanghai and Beijing, chanting slogans and confronting police. A number of university campuses also experienced protests. Such widespread demonstrations are unprecedented since the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that was crushed with deadly force by the army. Most people in the weekend protests focused their anger on rigid pandemic lockdowns, a form of virtual house arrest that can last for months and has been criticized as neither scientific nor effective. But some also shouted for the downfall of Xi and of the Communist Party that has ruled China with an iron fist for 73 years, criticism that is deemed seditious and punishable by years in prison. Protesters expressed frustration over a system that is neither performing as promised or responding to their concerns. So far, the response from the authorities has been muted. Some police in Shanghai used pepper spray to drive away demonstrators, and some protesters were detained and driven away in a bus. However, China's vast internal security apparatus is famed for identifying people it considers troublemakers and carting them off from their homes when few are watching. Police in Shanghai also beat, kicked and handcuffed a BBC journalist who was filming the protests. Authorities said they arrested him for his own good “in case he caught COVID from the crowd," the BBC said in a statement. “We do not consider this a credible explanation," it said. The possibility of further protests is unclear, and government censors have been scrubbing the internet of videos and messages supporting the demonstrations. Read: China crowds angered by Covid curbs openly urge Xi to resign The central government, meanwhile, reiterated its stance that anti-coronavirus measures should be “targeted and precise" and cause the least possible disruption to people's lives. That doesn't appear, however, to be reflected at the local level. Cadres are threatened with losing their jobs or suffering other punishments if outbreaks occur in their jurisdictions, prompting them to adopt the most radical options. Xi's unelected government doesn't seem to be overly concerned with the hardships brought by the policy. This spring, millions of Shanghai residents were placed under a strict lockdown that resulted in food shortages, restricted access to medical care, and harsh economic pain. Nevertheless, in October, the city's most powerful official, a longtime Xi loyalist, was appointed to the Communist Party's No. 2 position. The party has long imposed oppressive surveillance and travel restrictions on those least able to oppose them, particularly Tibetans and members of Muslim minority groups such as Uyghurs, more than 1 million of whom have been detained in camps where they are forced to renounce their traditional culture and religion and swear fealty to Xi. But this weekend's protests included many members of the educated urban middle class from the majority Han ethnic group. That's exactly the demographic the party relies on to sustain an unwritten post-1989 agreement in which the public accepted autocratic rule and a lack of civil liberties in exchange for improvements in quality of life. But now the party's implementation of its “zero COVID" policy shows it is reinforcing its control at the expense of the economy, meaning that the old arrangement has ended, said Hung Ho-fung of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “The whole situation is reflecting that the party and the people are trying to seek a new equilibrium, and there will be some instability in the process,” he said. To develop into something on the scale of the 1989 protests would require clear divisions within the leadership that could be leveraged for change, Hung said. Xi all but eliminated such threats at an October party congress, when he gave himself a new term and packed the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee with loyalists, sending two potential rivals into retirement. “Without the clear signal of party leader divisions ... I would expect this kind of protest might not last very long,” Hung said. It's “unimaginable” that Xi would back down, and the party is experienced in handling protests, Hung said. Read: Protests over China's COVID controls spread across country With its “zero COVID” policy, imposed shortly after the coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, China is now the only major country still trying to stop all transmission of the virus rather than learning to live with it. That has kept China’s infection numbers lower than those the United States and other major countries, but public acceptance of the restrictions has worn thin. People who are quarantined at home in some areas say they lack food and medicine. The ruling party faced public anger following the deaths of two children whose parents said anti-virus controls hampered their efforts to get medical help. And the case numbers continue to rise, jumping in the past week from less than 30,000 per day to 40,273 on Monday. While China initially had a strong vaccination program, that has lost momentum since the summer. The current protests erupted after a fire on Thursday killed at least 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi in the northwest, where some residents have been locked in their homes for four months. That prompted an outpouring of angry questions online about whether firefighters or people trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other pandemic restrictions. China has persevered with the policy despite criticism from the normally supportive head of the World Health Organization, who called it unsustainable. Beijing dismissed his remarks as irresponsible. And on Sunday, White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said measures such as shutdowns are only intended to be temporary. “It seems that in China it was just a very, very strict extraordinary lockdown, where you lock people in the house, but without any seemingly end game to it,” Fauci said on NBC's Meet the Press. Yet Xi, an ardent nationalist, has politicized the issue to the point that exiting the “zero COVID” policy could be seen as a loss to his reputation and authority. “Zero COVID” was “supposed to demonstrate the superiority of the ‘Chinese model,' but ended up demonstrating the risk that when authoritarian regimes make mistakes, those mistakes can be colossal," said Andrew Nathan, a Chinese politics specialist at Columbia University who edited The Tiananmen Papers, an insider account of the government's response to the 1989 protests. Read: Biden says he and Xi have a “responsibility” to show US, China can “manage differences” “But I think the regime has backed itself into a corner and has no way to yield. It has lots of force, and if necessary, it will use it," Nathan said. “If it could hold onto power in the face of the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989, it can do so again now."

Bangladesh reported 20 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Thursday morning. With the new numbers, the caseload rose to 2,036,469, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,431 as no death was reported during this period. The daily case test positivity dropped to 0.65 per cent from Wednesday’s 0.87 per cent as 3,067 samples were tested during the period. Read more: Bangladesh reports 33 more Covid cases, zero death The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.45 percent while the recovery rate rose to 97.49 per cent. In October, the country reported 60 Covid-linked deaths and 10,043 cases. Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.

Employees at the world’s biggest Apple iPhone factory were beaten and detained in protests over pay amid anti-virus controls, according to witnesses and videos on social media Wednesday, as tensions mount over Chinese efforts to combat a renewed rise in infections. Videos that said they were filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police kicked and hit a protester with clubs after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to strike him. Frustration with restrictions in areas throughout China that have closed shops and offices and confined millions of people to their homes has boiled over into protests. Videos on social media show residents tearing down barricades set up to enforce neighborhood closures. The ruling Communist Party promised this month to try to reduce disruptions by shortening quarantines and making other changes. But the party is sticking to a “zero-COVID” strategy that aims to isolate every case while other governments relax controls and try to live with the virus. Last month, thousands of employees walked out of the iPhone factory operated by Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group over complaints about unsafe working conditions following virus cases. A protest erupted Tuesday over complaints Foxconn changed conditions for new workers who were attracted by offers of higher pay, according to Li Sanshan, an employee. Read: China reports 10,000 new virus cases, capital closes parks Li said he quit a catering job in response to advertising that promised 25,000 yuan ($3,500) for two months of work. Li, 28, said workers were angry after being told they had to work two additional months at lower pay to receive the 25,000 yuan. “Foxconn released very tempting recruiting offers, and workers from all parts of the country came, only to find they were being made fools of,” Li said. Foxconn, headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan, said in a statement the “work allowance” has “always been fulfilled based on contractual obligation.” Foxconn denied what it said were comments online that employees with the virus lived in dormitories at the Zhengzhou factory. It said facilities were disinfected and passed government checks before employees moved in. “Regarding any violence, the company will continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” the company statement said. Protests have flared as the number and severity of outbreaks has risen across China, prompting authorities in areas including Beijing, the capital, to close neighborhoods and impose other restrictions that residents say go beyond what the national government allows. More than 253,000 cases have been found in the past three weeks and the daily average is increasing, the government reported Tuesday. This week, authorities reported China’s first COVID-19 deaths in six months. Read: WHO: World coronavirus cases fall 24%; deaths rise in Asia On Wednesday, the government reported 28,883 cases found over the past 24 hours, including 26,242 with no symptoms. Henan province, where Zhengzhou is the capital, reported 851 in total. The government will enforce its anti-COVID policy while “resolutely overcoming the mindset of paralysis and laxity,” said a spokesman for the National Health Commission, Mi Feng. The city government of Guangzhou, the site of the biggest outbreaks, announced it opened 19 temporary hospitals with a total of almost 70,000 beds for coronavirus patients. The city announced plans last week to build hospital and quarantine facilities for 250,000 people. Also Wednesday, Beijing opened a hospital in an exhibition center and suspended access to Beijing International Studies University was suspended after a virus case was found there. The capital earlier closed shopping malls and office buildings and suspended access to some apartment compounds. Foxconn said earlier its Zhengzhou factory uses “closed-loop management,” which means employees live at their workplace with no outside contact. The protest lasted through Wednesday morning as thousands of workers gathered outside dormitories and confronted factory security workers, according to Li. Other videos showed protesters spraying fire extinguishers toward police. A man who identified himself as the Communist Party secretary in charge of community services was shown in a video posted on the Sina Weibo social media platform urging protesters to withdraw. He assured them their demands would be met. Read: New coronavirus mutant raises concerns in India and beyond Apple Inc. has warned deliveries of its new iPhone 14 model would be delayed due to anti-disease controls at the factory. The city government suspended access to an industrial zone that surrounds the factory, which Foxconn has said employs 200,000 people. News reports said the ruling party had ordered “grassroots cadres” to fill in for Foxconn employees in Zhengzhou who left. The company didn’t respond to requests for confirmation and details about that arrangement.

The government will launch another special vaccination campaign against Covid-19, marking the country’s Victory Day, said the Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday. The campaign will start from December 1 and end on December 7, he said in an event marking World Antibacterial Week at a city hotel. Read more: COVID-19: US vaccine donations to Bangladesh exceed 100 million Around 90 lakh people will be vaccinated under this campaign, he added. “We have been successful in our previous campaigns. Hopefully this one will be successful too,” said the minister. Read more: Campaign for 1st, 2nd doses of Covid vaccine to continue till Oct 8: DGHS So far, 14.69 crore people have been vaccinated with the first dose while more than 12 crore people with the second dose against  Covid-19, he added.

Bangladesh registered another Covid-linked death and 26 more Covid cases in 24 hours till Monday morning. With the new numbers, the total number of fatalities rose to 29,431 while the caseload rose to 2,036,393, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The daily case test positivity rate rose to 0.66 per cent from Sunday’s 0.64 per cent as 3,943 samples were tested during the period. Read: COVID-19: US vaccine donations to Bangladesh exceed 100 million The deceased was a man from the Sylhet division which took the death toll in the division to 1,356. The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.47 per cent, respectively. In October, the country reported 60 Covid-linked deaths and 10,043 cases. Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.