COVID-19 patients
Covid-19 death toll in Bangladesh crosses 12,000
Bangladesh on Tuesday crossed the grim milestone of 12,000 coronavirus fatalities, nearly 15 months after reporting the first death in March last year.
With 33 latest fatalities in 24 hours until morning, the death tally soared to 12,005.
The country has been seeing below 60 daily deaths for a week after recording over 100 fatalities on several occasions last month.
However, the mortality rate rose to 1.55 percent after staying at 1.54 for four days, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, 1,230 new cases were detected after testing of 14,184 samples, pushing up the caseload to 776,257. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,661,926 tests.
The daily infection rate fell slightly to 8.67 percent from Monday’s 8.99 percent.
Also read: Ready to offer more support if Covid situation deteriorates in Bangladesh: China
After a massive upsurge in April, the number of daily cases fell below 2,000 since May 1.
However, the number of tests, as well as new cases, has declined from May 4, according to corona.gov.bd.
In India’s northeast there’s fear of a virus surge to come
With experts saying the coronavirus is likely spreading in India’s northeastern state of Assam faster than anywhere else in the country, authorities were preparing Monday for a surge in infections by converting a massive stadium and a university into hospitals.
Cases in Assam started ticking upward a month ago and the official seven-day weekly average in the state on May 9 stood at more than 4,700 cases. But a model run by the University of Michigan — which predicts the current spread of cases before they are actually detected — says infections in Assam are likely occurring as fast as any other place in the country.
Add to that recent elections in the state — and the huge political rallies that accompanied them — and experts fear a uncontrolled surge is on the horizon.
Worryingly, along with cities in India’s northeastern frontier — which is closer to Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan than it is New Delhi — cases have also started to spike in some remote Himalayan villages in the region.
Nationwide, India’s Health Ministry reported 360,000 new cases in the past 24 hours Monday, with more than 3,700 deaths. Since the pandemic began, India has seen more than 22.6 million infections and more than 246,000 deaths —- both, experts say, almost certainly undercounts.
Officials in Assam were racing to prepare for a virus surge because similar onslaughts in infections have overwhelmed hospitals in much richer Indian states.
“We are adding 1,000 beds a week to prepare ourselves in the event of cases spiraling,” said Dr Lakshmanan S, the director of the National Health Mission in Assam.
The state’s largest government-run hospital, the Guwahati Medical College Hospital has more than doubled its number of intensive care beds to 220 and health officials are building another 200 in the hospital’s parking lot.
A football and cricket stadium is being converted into a hospital for COVID-19 patients with 430 beds. The private Royal Global University in the state capital, Gauhati, has been converted into a hospital with 1,000 beds.
The state is sending doctors, paramedics and medicine to these facilities and the university said it would provide books and newspapers for patients to read.
“This is the least we thought we could do in this time of huge crisis for our country,” said Dr AK Pansari, the university chairman.
There are 2,100 beds reserved in government centers for COVID-19 patients in Gauhati, with hundreds more planned. That’s in addition to the existing 750 beds for patients at private hospitals in the state.
Even as infections have increased, the rates of vaccination have fallen in Assam and the other states in the region since India expanded its coverage to include all adults on May 1.
Adding to concerns is confirmation the virus has started spreading into more remote Himalayan villages with poor health infrastructure. These areas are home to indigenous tribes, whose are already face some of the lowest access to health care in the nation.
The region had largely been untouched by the virus earlier and many people behaved like COVID-19 didn’t exist. But it now appears the virus was spreading in even remote villages without people knowing until it was too late.
The lack of awareness about the virus, lack or resources and the remoteness is complicating contact tracing in such areas, said Dr. Mite Linggi, the medical superintendent at the district hospital at Roing in Arunachal Pradesh state.
Despite the limited medical infrastructure and even more limited medical supplies, Linggi said what they really feared were power cuts.
“Power is crucial for running oxygen supply. We have patients gasping for air when the power comes and goes out,” he said.
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.
Chattogram seroprevalence study: 90% of patients who tested positive have antibodies after 6 months
A seroprevalence study in Chattogram has shown the presence of anti-coronavirus antibodies in 65% of Covid-19 patients in Chattogram.
The study enrolled both those who tested positive for the virus, and those who tested negative but were treated as Covid patients based on symptoms, and observed them over a 6-month period.
The antibodies were found in about 90 percent of those who tested positive for the virus in an RT-PCR test, and 26% of RT-PCR negative patients.
Physicians at Chittagong General Hospital conducted the research on 1530 people (989 who tested positive, and 541 who tested negative)from October 2020 to April 2021 to investigate the presence and persistence of antibodies produced by the body as an immune response to Covid-19.
Also read: Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
The objectives of the study apart from finding the presence of antibodies were to gather information on the socio-economic status of the patients, what symptoms were present in them at the time of infection and whether there were any long-term complications after recovering from Covid.
Although participants of the research were selected on random basis, majority of them were male (75%) and employed (60%).
Their main symptoms after contracting Covid-19 were fever (92 percent), cough (63 percent), and loss of sense of smell (52 percent). Symptoms such as sore throat, headache, diarrhoea, shortness of breath, etc. have also been observed.
Many of the affected people were already suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes (15 percent), high blood pressure (23 percent), respiratory complications (9 percent) and heart disease. After recovering from Covid, about 57 percent of them had long-term symptoms including physical weakness, pain, anxiety, fatigue, cough, hair loss, etc.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Dr. Md. Abdur Rob, the head of the research team, said, “We have been treating Covid patients for a long time. This study is very timely in order to know more about Covid-19 in more detail about patients' symptoms, long-term complications after recovery and the presence of antibodies."
Dr. Mohammad Asif Khan, Coordinator of the research work, said that there is no alternative to such research to improve the medical science in the reality of our country as directed by the Hon'ble Prime Minister.
"This is the first example of a district-level hospital conducting research on its own initiative. We hope that this initiative will encourage self-managed research in the medical field," he said.
In light of the data collected, Dr. HM Hamidullah Mehdi said that one of the successes of this study is that a large number of infected patients have been included in it and the data has been collected through direct interviews and tests. The results of the study will make the government's ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program more acceptable and dynamic.
Also read: Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
Dr. MA Kabir Chowdhury, who is in charge of data and data analysis, said that while analyzing the data collected in the study, they have found some important information, such as the presence of antibodies in the body of RT-PCR positive patients for more than 6 months.
The findings were presented today at the conference room of the Chattogram General Hospital.
Barrister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Nawfel, Deputy Minister for Education and Chairman of the Management Committee of the 250-bed Chattogram General Hospital was the chief guest on the occasion.
He said the 250-bed Anderkilla General Hospital in Chittagong was the first and only place of recourse for Covid-19 patients in Chittagong after the corona virus entered the country. Initially, the hospital was in dire need of medical equipment for the treatment of patients suffering from covid, but now it is fully capable.
Border with India to remain shut for another 14 days
The government has decided to extend the closure of border with India for another 14 days keeping movement of cargoes carrying goods uninterrupted as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in India.
“It has been extended for another 14 days. The previous conditions will remain unchanged," Secretary (East) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mashfee Binte Shams told UNB over phone.
The latest decision of the extension was taken at a virtual meeting held on Saturday with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen in the chair.
Earlier, the government closed the border with India for 14 days with effect from April 26 but cargoes carrying goods were allowed to operate as usual.
Also read: Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
As per the previous decision, general movements of humans between Bangladesh and India will temporarily stay suspended through land ports.
The Bangladeshi citizens currently travelling to India for treatment and having visas with validity for less than 15 days could enter Bangladesh through only Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari after taking permission from Bangladesh Missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with a mandatory Covid-negative certificates done through PCR test within 72 hours of entry.
People entering Bangladesh through this process would have to stay officially quarantined for two weeks.
Except for the aforementioned three land ports, all kinds of human movements through all other land ports between the two countries would completely stay suspended for two weeks.
Also read: Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
The vehicles carrying imported goods from India would have to be properly sterilised before entering Bangladesh borders.
The drivers and helpers concerned would have to observe the Covid-19 safety protocol strictly.
Railroads will be encouraged for the export and import of goods between the two countries during this period.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Bangladesh Missions in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala will convey the relevant information in this regard to the authorities concerned in India in the light of the friendly relations between the two countries.
India’s crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections tearing through the populous country withb a terrifying speed, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors, reports AP from New Delhi.
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. Out of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.79 crore people have recovered.
Also read: India's surge hits southern states, prompts more lockdowns
With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh. At least 14 states are reporting cases in five figures.
Maharashtra reported about 54,000 cases, Karnataka had nearly 49,000, while Kerala had over 38,000.
Indian variant coronavirus found in Bangladesh
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh, says theInstitute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR) on Saturday.
Also read: Shutting border with India: Experts praise it as prudent decision
"The Indian variant of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. It has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data(GSID)," said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) DG Dr ABM Khurshid Alam also told the media that the Indian variant of Coronavirus has been found in Bangladesh.
Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
Two more confirmed cases of Indian Coronavirus strain have been detected at the Genome Centre of Jessore University of Science and Technology.
A media release signed by Md Abdur Rashid, the Public Relations officer of the university, confirmed the recent development.
According to the press release, three among 16 Indian returnees tested positive for Covid-19 recently after entering Bangladesh.
Also read: Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
Their samples were collected from Jessore General Hospital and sent to the university lab on May 6.
A research team, led by the Assistant Director of the Genome Centre Dr Md Iqbal Kabir identified the Indian Covid variant in two of the collected samples through sequencing.
Earlier in the day, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR) confirmed the first case of Indian Coronavirus strain in Bangladesh.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
The Indian strain of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
India’s crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections tearing through the populous country with terrifying speed, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors, reports AP from New Delhi.
Also read: India's surge hits southern states, prompts more lockdowns
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. Out of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.79 crore people have recovered.
With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh. At least 14 states are reporting cases in five figures. Maharashtra reported about 54,000 cases, Karnataka had nearly 49,000, while Kerala had over 38,000.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 45 more deaths with 1285 new cases
Bangladesh reported 45 more Coronavirus related deaths with 1285 new cases in 24 hours until Saturday morning amid concern after the detection of first case of highly contagious Indian Coronavirus strain in the country.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,878 while the mortality rate remained static at 1.54 percent.
Besides, the DGHS said, 1,285 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 14,703 samples, taking the total case count to 772,127.
Also, the country's infection rate fell to 8.74%, which was 9.89% a day ago, according to the DGHS.
The number of Covid deaths came down to as low as 50 after over a month on Wednesday as Bangladesh saw 50 deaths earlier on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
Also read: Bangladesh detects 1st case of Indian Coronavirus strain
According to the DGHS, 2,492 infected people recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.54%.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,613 ,979 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Dhaka, worst hit region as death toll nears 7,000
Dhaka remained the worst hit region by the virus, recording 6,900 fatalities or 58.09% of the total deaths until now.
Twenty-one of the 45 virus related deaths recorded today are from Dhaka and 13 are from Chattogram.
Indian Coronavirus strain detected
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh on Saturday, confirmed Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR).
The Indian strain of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka and it has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
The new strain was detected in samples collected from recent India returnee passengers in Bangladesh.
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh.
Into the third week of extended lockdown
The government has issued a notification extending the ongoing lockdown until May 16 with six fresh directives alongside the existing ones to contain the spread of Covid-19.
According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, the officials of all government, semi-government autonomous and private organisations, banks and financial institutions have been asked to remain at their respective workstations during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10am to 8pm maintaining health guidelines. If any kind of deviation and violation are seen, the shopping malls and shops will be closed instantly, says the notification.
Inter-district transport services will remain closed while only intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday. However, launch and train services will remain off.
Also read: New Covid-19 strain found in 10 EU returnees: Maleque
Amid a mad rush of home-bound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, ferry services on Paturia-Daulatdia and Shimulia-Banglabazar routes have been suspended today to curb the spread of Covid-19.
However, vessels carrying patients and goods will be allowed to cross the rivers, said BIWTC public relations officer Nazrul Islam.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended in Bangladesh since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Dwindling vaccine stock
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs left with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, "We had around 1 crore and 2 lakh doses. Around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we've some 14 lakh doses in stock."
He said there will be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted.
Vaccine expected from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the USA as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Vaccine production
With India slapping a ban on the export of AstraZeneca vaccines made by its Serum Institute, Bangladesh is trying to get technology from Russia and China to produce their vaccines locally.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on April 28 approved in principle a proposal for producing Russian and Chinese Covid-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.
The government on April 29 approved the emergency use of Sinopharm, a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine, a day after approving the emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
"We'll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as a gift within 7-10 days. Then the government will start buying those on a G2G basis," Mahbubur Rahman, director general of the Directorate General of Drug Administration told reporters.
Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
A confirmed case of Indian Coronavirus strain has been detected in Bangladesh, says the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research(IEDCR).
"The Indian variant of Coronavirus was detected in a sample test at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka. It has been published on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data(GSID)," said chief scientific officer of IEDCR ASM Alamgir.
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) DG Dr ABM Khurshid Alam also told the media that the Indian variant of Coronavirus has been found in Bangladesh.
The infected patients returned from India. They had been there for treatment, and now they’re staying in Jeshore,” he added.
Professor Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the institution, also confirmed the development at a press conference in the afternoon.
She said, “Jessore University of Science and Technology and IEDCR conducted separate examinations on the samples of 8 persons in Jessore. The Indian variant was found in 2 of them by both the institutions.”
Also read: Border with India to remain shut for another 14 days
“ Besides, 4 other samples tested there were found very similar to that of the Indian strain,” she added.
Besides, the DGHS said 60 of India returnees, who are now there in institutional quarantine, came here after getting infected there. But it is not sure yet whether they were infected with the Indian variant, it said. The Genome Centre of Jessore University of Science and Technology also confirmed the findings through a press release today.
According to the press release, three among 16 Indian returnees tested positive for Covid-19 recently after entering Bangladesh.
Their samples were collected from Jessore General Hospital and sent to the university lab on May 6.
A research team, led by the Assistant Director of the Genome Centre Dr Md Iqbal Kabir identified the Indian Covid variant in two of the collected samples through sequencing.
Earlier, on May 3, the DGHS said the government would be confirmed within a few days whether the highly contagious Indian variant of coronavirus has already reached Bangladesh as an investigation was on in this regard.
Also read: Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam, said, "We may be able to say it in a few days whether the Indian strain of Covid-19 has come to Bangladesh or not."
He said the samples of those who tested positive for coronavirus after entering Bangladesh from India are being collected.
“These samples are being sent for genome sequencing…we’ll share it with you immediately after receiving the report.”
India is experiencing a horrific Covid situation as its crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections tearing through the populous country with terrifying speed, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors, reports AP from New Delhi.
India recorded over 4 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. Out of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.79 crore people have recovered.
With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh. At least 14 states are reporting cases in five figures.
Also read: India's surge hits southern states, prompts more lockdowns
Maharashtra reported about 54,000 cases, Karnataka had nearly 49,000, while Kerala had over 38,000.
On April 26, Bangladesh closed its border with India for any kind of movement except that of cargoes for the next 14 day to prevent the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.
The Indian variant of Covid-19 viruses mutate all the time, producing different versions of themselves. Most of these mutations are insignificant - and some may even make the virus less dangerous - but others can make it more contagious and harder to vaccinate against.
The original India variant - officially known as B.1.617 - was first detected in October, reports the BBC.
That version has now been re-characterised as three different subtypes, all with slightly different genetic mutations.
India has said a new variant of the coronavirus first discovered there in March may be linked to a deadly second wave, according to another BBC report.
Samples containing the "double mutant"- or B.1.617 variant - have been found in several states with high case numbers.
An official at the National Centre for Disease Control said, however, that they had still been unable to fully establish a correlation.
A double mutant is when two mutations come together in the same virus.
Covid’s daily deaths in Bangladesh drop to 37
Bangladesh on Friday reported the deaths of 37 more people, including 14 women, from Coronavirus, the lowest since March 28.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said the new fatalities pushed up the country’s death toll to 11,833 and the mortality rate to 1.54 %.
Besides, the DGHS said, 1,682 new cases were detected during the period following the test of 17,013 samples, taking the total case count to 770,842.
"The number of deaths, recorded so far, is lower compared to the number of positive cases. This warrants conduction of genomic sequencing to see if any new but less virulent variant is in the offing," Dr AM Zakir Hussain, former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research, told UNB.
Also, the country's infection rate rose to 9.89%, which was 8.44% a day ago, according to the DGHS.
The number of Covid deaths came down to as low as 50 after over a month on Wednesday as Bangladesh saw 50 deaths earlier on April 1 and it had kept rising since then. The body count soared to over 100 during April 16-19 and on April 25 but the daily fatalities have been falling gradually since then.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Around 21 pc of total deaths reported in April alone
According to the DGHS, 2,178 infected people recovered in the past 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.37%.
Bangladesh has so far carried out 559,9276 nationwide tests since reporting its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year, the first death on the 18th of that month.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the doses uncertain.
India has tried to ward off its Covid crisis by ramping up its production of vaccines and banning their export, cutting off supplies to neighbours such as Bangladesh and Nepal as they struggle with infection surges.
The administering of the first dose has remained suspended in Bangladesh since April 26. Also, the country, the prime recipient of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, has suspended the registration for Covid-19 jabs due to vaccine shortage amid a delay in the timely arrival of shipments from India.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh would get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Also read: Mall crowds may bring back Covid nightmare, warns minister
Dwindling vaccine stock
India's shortage of shots has its global implications because, in addition to its vaccination efforts, the country promised to ship out vaccines abroad as part of a United Nations vaccine-sharing programme that is dependent on its supply.
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is dwindling in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs left with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, "We had around 1 crore and 2 lakh doses. Around 88 lakh jabs have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we've some 14 lakh doses in stock."
India's govt eases hospital oxygen shortage as demand jumps
Under order by the Supreme Court, India's government agreed on Thursday to provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, potentially easing a 2-week-old shortage that worsened the country's exploding coronavirus crisis.
Government officials also denied reports that they have been slow in distributing life-saving supplies donated from abroad.
The government raised the oxygen supply to 730 tons from 490 tons per day in New Delhi as ordered by the Supreme Court. The court intervened after 12 COVID-19 patients, including a senior doctor, died at New Delhi’s Batra Hospital when it ran out of medical oxygen for 80 minutes last week.
On Wednesday night, 11 other COVID-19 patients died when pressure in an oxygen line dropped suddenly at a government medical college hospital in Chengalpet in southern India, possibly because of a faulty valve, The Times of India newspaper reported.
Hospital authorities said they repaired the oxygen line last week, but the consumption of oxygen had doubled since then, the newspaper said.
The number of new confirmed cases in India on Thursday breached 400,000 for the second time since the devastating surge began last month. The 412,262 new cases pushed the country's official tally to more than 21 million. The Health Ministry also reported 3,980 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 230,168. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
K. Vijay Raghvan, a principal scientific adviser to the government, called the explosion of cases “a very critical time for the country.”
Demand for hospital oxygen has increased sevenfold since last month, a government official said, as India struggles to set up large oxygen plants and transport oxygen to where it is needed. India on Tuesday stated ferrying oxygen tankers from Bahrain and Kuwait in the Persian Gulf, officials said.
Most hospitals in India don't have their own plants that generate oxygen for patients, As a result, hospitals typically rely on liquid oxygen, which can be stored in cylinders and transported in tank trucks. But amid the virus surge, supplies in hard-hit places such as New Delhi have run critically short.
Dr. Himaal Dev, chief of the critical care unit at Apollo Hospital in the southern city of Bengaluru, said COVID-19 patients in ICU wards require at least 10-15 liters of oxygen per minute because of their reduced lung function.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India has enough oxygen but is facing capacity constraints in moving it. Most oxygen is produced in the eastern parts of India while the demand has risen in northern and western parts.
The outbreak has been spreading to neighboring countries which share porous borders with India.
In Nepal, thousands of people rushed to leave the country ahead of a halt to all international flights because of spiking COVID-19 cases.
Nepali citizens leaving to report back for jobs in foreign countries or to visit family members and a few foreign tourists lined up at Kathmandu’s airport before flights ceased at midnight Thursday. Domestic flights in Nepal have been halted since Monday.
Nepal’s main cities and towns have been in lockdown since last month as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to surge. Nepal recorded its highest daily infections with 8,659 on Wednesday and 58 deaths, also a record.
In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the coronavirus situation with top officials on Thursday and told them to ramp up the vaccination drive.
The country, with nearly 1.4 billion people, has so far administered 162 million doses but is facing vaccine shortages.
The United States, Britain, Germany and several other nations are rushing therapeutics, rapid virus tests and oxygen, along with materials needed to boost domestic production of vaccines to ease pressure on the country's fragile health infrastructure.
India’s vaccine production is expected to get a boost with the United States supporting a waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.
Vaccine components from the U.S. that have arrived in India will enable the manufacture of 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said Daniel B. Smith, the senior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
Last month, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, appealed to President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on U.S. export of raw materials, which he said was affecting its production of COVID-19 shots.
The government meanwhile described as "totally misleading” Indian media reports that it took seven days to come up with a procedure for distributing urgent medical supplies that started arriving from overseas on April 25.
It said in a statement that a mechanism for allocating supplies received by India has been put in place for effective distribution. The Indian Red Cross Society is involved in distributing the supplies from abroad, it said.