COVID-19 vaccines
Global Covid-19 cases cross 144 million
The global Covid-19 caseload has crossed the grim milestone of 144 million as the world is grappling to contain the second outbreak of Covid-19 even with mass inoculations underway.
Deaths from the virus have also topped three million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
To be specific, the total caseload reached 144,757,145 while the fatalities climbed to 3,072,309 on Friday morning.
Also read: How long does protection from COVID-19 vaccines last?
The US is the world's worst-hit country -- the North American nation has registered 31,929,599 cases and 570,345 deaths as of Friday morning.
In Brazil, the Covid-19 death toll mounted to 383,502 and infections topped 14,167,973, as per the latest data.
A new wave of infections has been confronting the South American country, leading to a rise in hospitalisations, deaths and the collapse of a large part of the Brazilian public healthcare system.
Neighbouring country India recorded the world's second highest number of Covid-19 cases, at 16,263,695 to date. The country has so far witnessed 186,095 deaths, listing it among the worst-affected countries in the world.
Also read: Covid situation in Bangladesh unlikely to improve before June: Experts
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh recorded 98 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Thursday as the deadly second wave of the virus overwhelms hospitals and pushes the health sector to its limits.
The virus also infected 4,014 others during the period, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
Coronavirus deaths now stand at 10,781 with a mortality rate of 1.46 percent, according to DGHS. The daily infection rate fell to 14.63 percent from Wednesday’s 15.07 percent.
On Monday, the country broke all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities. It saw over 100 deaths on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Health authorities have so far confirmed 736,074 cases. Among them, 642,449 people - 87.28 percent of all patients – have recovered.
Also read: India records world's highest single-day spike in Covid cases
Covid vaccines should be declared as global public goods: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said Bangladesh firmly believes that coronavirus vaccines should be declared as global public goods and called for a strong partnership to tackle COVID-19 challenges.
The pandemic, she noted, has brought mankind at a crossroad of human history confronting possibly the gravest global challenge of our times.
“The socio-economic impacts of the pandemic are massive and are still unfolding. It is, therefore, extremely important to strengthen the global and regional partnerships through coordinated efforts to address these challenges,” she said.
Prime Minister Hasina said this in her prerecorded video speech at the opening plenary of the four-day annual conference Boao Forum for Asia (BAF) titled “A world in change: Join hands to strengthen global governance and advance Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Cooperation”.
Partnership and Connectivity
Sheikh Hasina focused on three issues –
First, the need for strong partnership to address the challenges posed by the pandemic, and to make vaccines available to everyone by declaring it as global public goods;
Second, the need to work together for harnessing the power of technology as the future will be driven by the 4IR, which comes with opportunities and challenges, and
Hopeful of getting rest of vaccine doses from India as scheduled: FM
Despite its high demand in India, Dhaka hopes that New Delhi will supply the rest of the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) to Bangladesh as agreed between the two countries with other options open.
“India is telling us that it’ll (March consignment) come but yet to arrive. We believe in their assurance,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told UNB in an interview at his residence.
He said Bangladesh received 3.2 million doses of vaccine as a gift from India but the consignment of 5 million doses that was scheduled to arrive in March from India is yet to come.
Read Covishield and Covaxin: What we know about India's Covid-19 vaccines
Bangladesh has purchased three crore doses of the vaccine from the Serum Institute and the first shipment of 50 lakh arrived here in January last week while the second consignment of 20 lakh doses of Covid-19 came in February.
The Foreign Minister acknowledged the high demand of vaccines globally, including the demand by some political leaders in India to halt export.
“I think it won’t be applicable for us as we’ve made arrangements and made advance payment. India announced the vaccine will be delivered as per schedule. And we believe it,” Dr Momen said.
Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to place an immediate moratorium on the export of vaccines, fast track approval of other vaccines and open up vaccination to everyone who needs it.
Senators to Biden: Waive vaccine intellectual property rules
Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.
The lawmakers, in a letter delivered to the White House on Thursday evening, wrote that Biden should “prioritize people over pharmaceutical company profits” and support the temporary waiver of the rules. A waiver could pave the way for generic or other manufacturers to make more vaccines.
The letter was led by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, along with Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Raphael Warnock of Georgia also signed the letter.
“Simply put, we must make vaccines, testing, and treatments accessible everywhere if we are going to crush the virus anywhere,” the lawmakers say in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
More than 100 nations support a temporary waiver, which could help vaccine manufacturing ramp up in poorer countries that are struggling to acquire vaccine supplies. The Biden administration has said it is studying the issue.
Opponents, including pharmaceutical companies, worry that it would set dangerous precedent in allowing scientists around the globe to copy American and European companies’ research — some of which was funded by the U.S. government — long before patents expire. The Trump administration had opposed calls for the waiver.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the lawmakers’ letter.
The lawmakers’ appeal to Biden came after a group of 170 former world leaders and Nobel laureates earlier this week sent a similar letter to Biden urging him to support a temporary waiver of the WTO’s intellectual property rules.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide, including more than 170,000 in India and more than 50,000 in South Africa, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Covid-19 vaccines: Ex-leaders, Nobel laureates urge Biden to waive intellectual property rules
More than 60 former world leaders and over 100 Nobel Prize winners Thursday called on US President Joe Biden to support a waiver of intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines.
A waiver would boost vaccine manufacturing and speed up the response to the pandemic in the US and around the world, they said in a joint letter to Biden.
The letter specifically asks Biden to support a proposal from South African and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily waive intellectual property rules related to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
It calculates that at the current pace of vaccine production, the poorest nations will be left waiting until at least 2024 to achieve mass Covid-19 immunisation.
The signatories to the letter include former British prime minister Gordon Brown, former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, former president of France François Hollande and Nobel laureates Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Professor Muhammad Yunus and Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.
Also read: Funding for vaccine procurement earmarked in deals with WB, ADB: Dr Meerjady
Gordon Brown said, "President Biden has said no one is safe until everyone is safe, and now with the G7 ahead there is an unparalleled opportunity to provide the leadership that only the US can provide and that hastens an end to the pandemic for the world."
The former British prime minister also said an urgent temporary waiver of intellectual property rules at the WTO would help them ramp up the global supply of vaccines together with a global multi-year burden-sharing plan to finance vaccines for the poorest countries.
Professor Yunus said, "Big pharmaceutical companies are setting the terms of the end of today's pandemic, and the cost of allowing senseless monopolies is only more death and more people being pushed into poverty."
"We together urge President Biden to stand on the right side of history and ensure a vaccine is a global common good, free of intellectual property protection."
François Hollande said the extreme inequality in access to vaccines around the world has created an unbearable political and moral situation.
"If the US supports the lifting of patents, Europe will have to take on its responsibilities. In the face of this devastating pandemic, world leaders must prioritise the public interest and international solidarity."
Also read: South Asian Govts must ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines: AI
The leaders also called for the intellectual property waiver to be accompanied by the open sharing of vaccine know-how and technology, and by coordinated and strategic global investment in research, development, and manufacturing capacity, especially in developing countries.
The resulting vaccine inequality, the leaders warned, means that the US economy already risks losing $1.3 trillion in GDP this year, and if the virus is left to roam the world, the increased risk of new viral variants means even vaccinated people in the US could be unprotected once more.
The letter, which was coordinated by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 organisations, warned that at the current global immunisation rate, it was likely that only 10% of people in the majority of poor countries will be vaccinated in the next year.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi said, "We will not end today's global pandemic until rich countries – most especially the US – stop blocking the ability of countries around the world to mass-produce safe and effective vaccines."
Joseph Stiglitz said, "New mutations of the virus will continue to cost lives and upend our interconnected global economy until everyone, everywhere has access to a safe and effective vaccine. Intellectual property is the utmost artificial barrier to global vaccine supply."
Covid-19: Bangladesh reports highest ever single-day deaths with 96
Bangladesh reported 96 deaths during a 24-hour period until Wednesday morning, shattering all of its previous single-day death counts.
The latest fatalities pushed up the local tally to 9,987 since the first death was reported on March 18 last year, a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. The mortality rate stood at 1.42 percent.
However, the number of daily cases fell to 5,185 from Tuesday’s 6,028. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8. Since then, 703,170 cases have been confirmed.
The country has conducted 5,095,613 covid tests, including 24,825 new ones, since the beginning of the outbreak.
Also read: Fresh lockdown in Bangladesh: Experts skeptical about having any great result
The daily infection rate stood at 20.89 percent.
So far, the health authorities reported 591,299 recoveries (84.09 percent), including 5,333 in the last 24 hours.
Daily cases fall, body count rises
Bangladesh saw a spike in the number of daily cases in recent days that was followed by record single-day death counts.
On Wednesday, the country registered its highest number of deaths from the virus for the fourth time in five days. The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday.
Coronavirus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Hospitals overflowing
The steady rise in new cases put severe pressure on the health system which is struggling to accommodate so many patients.
Of the 96 deaths reported, 94 had died at hospitals and two at home.
Hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in Dhaka and elsewhere are running out of general and ICU beds.
Hospitals in Dhaka metropolitan area have 4,286 general beds and 59 ICU beds. Of them, only 526 general and 12 ICU beds are available, according to DGHS data.
Also read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
Overall, there are 10,614 general beds for treating coronavirus patients in the country and more than half of them (5,688) are occupied.
There are 792 ICU beds in total but only 137 are available at the moment.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her new year address, said the ICU facilities are being increased and the areas of coronavirus patient treatment are being expanded.
She said steps have been taken for uninterrupted oxygen supply in public specialised hospitals.
Emphasis on health guidelines
People’s apathy towards health rules has been blamed as one of the main reasons for the sudden rise in coronavirus cases. The infection rate had fallen below 5 percent earlier this year.
Repeated requests of the health experts and the government fell on deaf ears. The people carried on as usual, hardly sticking to basic health rules as they continued to throng shopping malls, places of entertainment and other public gatherings.
Sheikh Hasina urged everyone to be careful and ensure protection for themselves, their family members and neighbours.
“Gatherings have to be avoided and everyone should wear a mask when going outside,” she said. “If everyone follows health guidelines, it’ll be possible to keep the pandemic under control, Inshallah.”
People’s lives come first: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday urged everyone to follow health guidelines and celebrate Pahela Boishakh at home when the nation enters a strict weeklong lockdown to contain the upsurge of coronavirus transmission.
"We have to remember that the lives of the people come first. If (we) survive, we’ll be able to rearrange everything," she said while addressing the nation on the eve of Bengali New Year, Pahela Boishakh.
State-owned Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television (BTV) simultaneously broadcasted her address. Private television channels and radio stations also aired the Prime Minister’s speech.
She also urged the countrymen not to be panicked at the second wave of covid-19 and assured that her government is always with them. She asked authorities concerned to take measures to provide necessary assistance to the poor and low-income people.
In her roughly 13-minute speech, the Prime Minister said that the government has imposed some restrictions on the movement of people due to the second wave of coronavirus last week.
She said the rise in cases compelled the government to take some tough measures following the advice of public health experts.
The prime minister acknowledged that the strict measures could cause some issues for the livelihoods of many people. She reminded everyone that protecting the people's lives was the top priority.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 69 more die, 6,028 infected
Sheikh Hasina mentioned that last year everyone had to face various types of adverse situations after coronavirus hit. "As quarantine is one of the ways to resist this pandemic, for that we’ve to take some steps that had an impact on people's lives and livelihoods," she said.
The four principles
She said that last year the government imposed 62 days of general holiday. It is yet to open educational institutions. The Prime Minister said the situation was not unique to Bangladesh. “Such steps are being taken wherever the impact of this deadly virus is intensifying," she said.
Along with saving people's lives, the Prime Minister said the government is keeping watch so that country's economy, lives and livelihoods of the people do not fall apart.
“With cooperation from all we have taken some steps, as a result, last year we were able to face the coronavirus pandemic successfully,” she said.
She said the government fixed four key activities last year to face the possible adverse impact of coronavirus. They were—increasing public expenditure prioritising employment generation; formulating stimulus package for reviving economic activities, keeping labours and workers in their jobs and keeping the competitiveness of the entrepreneurs.
The other two are— expanding social safety net programmes for fulfilling the basic needs of people living under the poverty line, non-institutionally engaged and day labourers, and increasing money supply to overcome the adverse impact on the economy in a way there will be no inflation.
“Our activities are continuing based on these four principles. We’ve already announced 23 stimulus packages of Tk 1,24,053 crore,” she said.
Also read: Covid-19: Hasina for balancing livelihoods and public health
‘Don’t worry’
She also said that some 2.5 crore people have been brought under various government assistance programme apart from taking steps for uninterrupted production in mills and factories and increasing agricultural production.
“There’s no need to be worried, the government is always beside you. I’ve taken steps for the poor and lower-income group after the second wave hit,” she said.
In this regard, she said that the government allocated Tk 807.65 crore for employment generation in the rural areas and more than Tk 672 crore for Holy Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr. This will benefit 1,24,42,000 lower income group families.
5.6mln people received first dose
Talking about the vaccine of coronavirus, Sheikh Hasina said that scientists have already invented some vaccines, Oxford-AstraZeneca is one of them.
She also said that it was a matter of good luck that Bangladesh has been able to bring a sizeable number of doses at the beginning of the vaccine production.
“In the meantime, more than 56 lakh people have been taken the first dose of the vaccine. Those who’ve taken the first dose are now taking the second dose. Gradually, we’ll bring everyone under the vaccine programme and we’ve the preparations,” she said.
But she mentioned that the health experts said that there is no assurance that one will be fully protected from the virus after receiving the vaccine. “So, after taking the vaccine, we’ll have to maintain health guidelines too,” she said.
Also read: Bangladesh begins second phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive
Covid treatment facilities being increased
The Prime Minister said that the area of coronavirus patient treatment has been further expanded in all districts including Dhaka. In the meantime, steps have been taken for uninterrupted oxygen supply in public specialised hospitals. Existing ICU facilities are being increased.
She urged everyone to be careful and ensure protection for themselves, family members and neighbours. “So, gatherings have to be avoided and everyone should wear a mask when going outside. After returning home, one should get cleaned and take hot water vapour,” she said.
“If everyone follows health guidelines, it’ll be possible to keep the pandemic under control, Inshallah,” she said.
‘Celebrate Pahela Boishakh digitally’
She also mentioned that era after era pandemic, storms, cyclones and calamities come, mankind has to survive facing all these.
“The path of life is not smooth. The path may be tough enough [but] we’ve to make our advancement conquering that,” she said.
Quoting some lines of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, the Prime Minister said that Bangalis are the victorious nation and they are surviving facing various adversities.
Also read: Bangladesh’s complete lockdown set to begin on Apr 14; notification issued
“Inshallah, we’ll face this coronavirus pandemic. In the new year our prayer to the Almighty is to save the world from this pandemic,” she said.
The Prime Minister greeted the countrymen on the occasion of Bengali New Year and Holy Ramadan that fell on the same day this year.
She also asked all to stay home. “Like the previous year, Bangalis will have to celebrate Pahela Boishakh festival through digital medium remaining at home,” she said.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 69 more die, 6,028 infected
The number of Covid-19 deaths in Bangladesh fell slightly in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, after registering a record breaking single-day death count for the past two days.
The country saw 83 Covid-related deaths on Monday and 78 on Sunday.
Now the fatalities from Covid-19 rose to 9,891 with the new deaths but the mortality rate remained static at 1.42 percent for the fourth consecutive day, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
The deadly virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. On March 18 last year, Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus death, sparking alarm across the country.
During the 24-hour reporting period, 6,028 new cases were recorded in Bangladesh, pushing up the caseload to 697,985.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh shatters single-day death count record again
The infection rate, however, slipped to 18.29 percent from Monday’s 20.59 percent.
As of now, 5,070,788 samples, including 32,955 in the last 24 hours, have been tested.
Bangladesh has been seeing a record number of infections with daily case count surpassing 7,000-mark earlier this month before falling significantly on April 10 and April 11.
Stalled at first jab: Vaccine shortages hit poor countries
As many as 60 countries, including some of the world’s poorest, might be stalled at the first shots of their coronavirus vaccinations because nearly all deliveries through the global program intended to help them are blocked until as late as June.
COVAX, the global initiative to provide vaccines to countries lacking the clout to negotiate for scarce supplies on their own, has in the past week shipped more than 25,000 doses to low-income countries only twice on any given day. Deliveries have all but halted since Monday.
During the past two weeks, according to data compiled daily by UNICEF, fewer than 2 million COVAX doses in total were cleared for shipment to 92 countries in the developing world — the same amount injected in Britain alone.
On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization slammed the “shocking imbalance” in global COVID-19 vaccination. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus said that while one in four people in rich countries had received a vaccine, only one in 500 people in poorer countries had gotten a dose.
The vaccine shortage stems mostly from India’s decision to stop exporting vaccines from its Serum Institute factory, which produces the overwhelming majority of the AstraZeneca doses that COVAX counted on to supply around a third of the global population at a time coronavirus is spiking worldwide.
Also read: Shocking imbalance in Covid vaccine distribution: WHO
COVAX will only ship vaccines cleared by WHO, and countries are increasingly impatient. Supplies are dwindling in some of the first countries to receive COVAX shipments, and the expected delivery of second doses in the 12-week window currently recommended is now in doubt. In a statement, the vaccine alliance known as GAVI told The Associated Press that 60 countries are affected by the delays.
In vaccination tents set up at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, many of those who arrived for their first jabs were uneasy about when the second would arrive.
“My fear if I don’t get the second dose, my immune system is going to be weak, hence I might die,” said Oscar Odinga, a civil servant.
Internal WHO documents obtained by the AP show the uncertainty about deliveries “is causing some countries to lose faith in the COVAX (effort).” That is prompting WHO to consider speeding up its endorsement of vaccines from China and Russia, which have not been authorized by any regulators in Europe or North America.
The WHO documents show the U.N. agency is facing questions from COVAX participants about allotments in addition to “uncertainty about whether all those who were vaccinated in round 1 are guaranteed a second dose.”
WHO declined to respond specifically to the issues raised in the internal materials but has previously said countries are “very keen” to get vaccines as soon as possible and insisted it hasn’t heard any complaints about the process.
Also read: Are some Covid-19 vaccines more effective than others?
Concern over the link between the AstraZeneca shot and rare blood clots has also “created nervousness both around its safety and efficacy,” WHO noted. Among its proposed solutions is a decision to “expedite review of additional products” from China and Russia.
WHO said last month it might be possible to greenlight the Chinese vaccines by the end of April.
Some experts have noted that Sinopharm and Sinovac, two Chinese-made vaccines, lack published data, and there are reports of people needing a third dose to be protected.
“If there is something that we miss from not having thoroughly evaluated the risks of serious adverse events from these vaccines, that would undermine the confidence in all the good products that we’re using that we know are safe,” said Dora Curry, director of health equity and rights at CARE International.
Other experts worried that delays could erode faith in governments that were particularly efficient in their vaccination programs and were counting on second doses soon.
“In the absence of high vaccination coverage globally, we risk dragging out the pandemic for several more years,” said Lavanya Vasudevan, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Global Health Institute. “Every day that the virus is in circulation is an opportunity for it to mutate into a more deadly variant.”
Also read: COVAX reaches over 100 economies, 42 days after first international delivery
Earlier this month, the WHO appealed to rich countries to urgently share 10 million doses to meet the U.N. target of starting COVID-19 vaccinations in every country within the first 100 days of the year. So far, countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to COVAX. But there are simply no doses to buy, and no country has agreed to immediately share what it has.
Bilateral donations of doses tend to go along political lines, rather than to countries with the most infections, and they aren’t nearly enough to compensate for the goals that COVAX has set out. Think Global Health, a data site managed by the Council on Foreign Relations, identified 19 countries that have donated a total of 27.5 million doses to 102 nations as of Thursday.
“You can make a strong argument that we’re better off making donations in crisis and getting the pandemic under control than vaccinating low-risk groups at home,” said Thomas Bollyky, director of the Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Bollyky said COVAX was both a great disappointment and the only available option for most the world.
According to the International Rescue Committee, COVID-19 cases and deaths last month surged in numerous crisis-hit countries: by 322% in Kenya, 379% in Yemen and 529% in northeast Syria.
On Thursday, the agencies behind COVAX — WHO, vaccines alliance GAVI and CEPI, a coalition for epidemic preparedness — celebrated their delivery of 38 million lifesaving vaccines to more than 100 countries.
Brook Baker, a vaccines expert at Northeastern University, said the laudatory message was misplaced.
Also read: Countries worldwide hit new records for virus cases, deaths
“Celebrating doses sufficient for only 19 million people, or 0.25% of global population, is tone deaf,” he said, adding it was time for WHO and partners to be more honest with countries.
“WHO and GAVI have repeatedly overpromised and underdelivered, so why should we believe that they will suddenly be able to ramp up production and deliveries in a couple of months?” he said.
Outside the vaccination tents in Nairobi on Thursday, Dr. Duncan Nyukuri, an infectious disease physician, tried to reassure people getting their first dose.
“If you receive the first dose and you fail to receive the second dose, this does not mean that your body will be any weaker or you will be at an increased risk of getting any infection,” he said. “What it means is your body will have developed some immunity against the coronavirus infection. But this immunity is not as good as somebody who has received both doses.”
Vaccines to be made available for others depending on surplus: Kerry
The United States has assured of making Covid-19 vaccines available for other countries including Bangladesh once they have surplus.
“I can assure you when we can reach the level of the critical mass vaccination and we’ve surplus, we’ll absolutely make vaccines available in whatever different ways,” said John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
While responding to a question at a joint briefing on Friday, Kerry said US President Joe Biden believes deeply that they have a responsibility - moral and practical - to bring the whole world back from this break.
Also read: Make no mistake; take action: Kerry on dealing with climate crisis together
He, however, said he cannot give the numbers and schedule but he can guarantee that there is a concerted effort to reach out globally to help all with this pandemic. “We all benefit by getting this pandemic conquered.”