coronavirus BD
Covid-19 claims 40 more lives, infects 1,144 others
Bangladesh has registered 40 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a rise in the number of daily deaths than the previous day.
With the news deaths the national tally reached at 12,045 on Wednesday. The country witnessed 33 deaths on Tuesday.
Bangladesh has been seeing below 60 daily deaths for a week after recording over 100 fatalities on several occasions in April.
However, the mortality rate rose to 1.55 percent, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, 1,140 new cases were detected after testing of 15,296 samples, pushing up the caseload to 777,397. Bangladesh has so far carried out 5,677,222 tests.The daily infection rate fell slightly to 7.45 percent from Tuesday’s 8.67 percent.
Bangladesh was experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases in April and the daily cases came down to below 2000 since May 1.
DGHS said 2,928 patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 92.39 percent.
Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
The country reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Dhaka worst-hit region
Dhaka has remained the worst-hit division, recording 6,972 fatalities or 57.88 percent of the total deaths until now.
Of the total daily deaths, sixteen deaths have been reported from Dhaka alone while 13 from Chattogrram.
Extended lockdown
The lockdown imposed on April 4 to contain the spread of coronavirus has been extended till May 16 as the government continues to discourage people from travelling to their village homes.
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.
Inter-district transport services have remained closed while intra-district transport services were allowed to operate ensuring health guidelines. Launch and train services remain off.
Also Read: 500 thousand doses of China’s gifted vaccine arrive in Bangladesh
But the restrictions could not deter people from travelling to their village homes ignoring health risks.
Vaccination drive
Bangladesh launched its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses purchased from India's Serum Institute.
The government 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 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.
In the last 24 hours, 10 people have received the first dose of the vaccine while 97,337 have received the second dose, said the health directorate.
Also Read: Nothing to be worried about vaccines: FM
Vaccine arrives from China
Covid-19 vaccine doses, donated by the Chinese government to Bangladesh, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, China and Bangladesh have been supporting and assisting each other to fight together against the pandemic.
China has donated and is donating vaccines to 80 developing countries with urgent needs, and has provided support under COVAX for the emergency use of vaccines in developing countries.
DNCC teams up with Young Bangla to make masses embrace masks
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has teamed up with Young Bangla, a youth volunteering platform, launching a mass-masking campaign to help increase proper mask-wearing in Dhaka significantly and reduce Covid-19 transmission saving thousands of lives.
The campaign, led by the city corporation Mayor Md Atiqul Islam, was brought forth in partnership with local and global organizations Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Yale University, Stanford Medical School, Centre for Research and Information (CRI), Shakti Foundation for Disadvantaged Women, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), and BD Clean.
Around 100 volunteers from Young Bangla, the youth secretariat of the ruling Awami League's research wing Centre for Research & Information (CRI), teamed up with the organizations to leverage the impact created by the life-saving initiative.
In the first design meeting of the campaign, the Mayor said, “We need to learn how to manage our lives to cope with the threat of Covid. Proper mask wearing is a critical part of that. This challenge needs broad partnership. I am very happy that we are forming a global partnership — the DNCC Mass Masking Campaign—to tackle this big challenge.”
The Mass Masking Campaign is based on a model called NORM (NORMalize mask-wearing model). Developed by Yale University, Stanford University, and IPA, in partnership with GreenVoice, a local NGO, NORM was rigorously researched using a large-scale randomized evaluation.
Also read: Avoid public gatherings, wear masks to fight Covid surge, PM urges all
The research was similar to vaccine trials, involving 350,000 people across 600 unions throughout Bangladesh for the last four months. NORM for rural Bangladesh includesfour components: distributing free masks, offering information on mask-wearing, reinforcing mask-wearing in-person and in public, and modeling and endorsement by trusted leaders.
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.
Beware of Indian covid variant: Quader
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday urged everyone to remain cautious about the dangerous Indian strain of coronavirus that has recently been detected in Bangladesh.
He made the call at a discussion meeting on "Things to do to deal with Covid-19 on the occasion of Mujib Year".
Quader virtually joined the programme organised by Bangabandhu Diploma Engineers Council at IDEB Bhaban in the capital this morning from his official residence.
Also read: Covid-19: Bangladesh reports 56 deaths, 1,386 new cases
He said that the slightest indifference of the people can cause disaster.
Mentioning that the people of this country have been successfully dealing with many natural and man-made disasters in the past under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Quader said Bangladesh will be able to deal with the ongoing crisis successfully under her guidance.
He called on all to exercise restraint and said that it is necessary to build strong awareness in order to save the country from this epidemic.
Also read: Bangladesh detects first case of Indian Coronavirus strain
Quader said the only recourse now is to prevent the virus’ transmission by celebrating Eid without travelling to villages heeding the call of the Prime Minister.
He said that India had the highest death record yesterday and now it is experiencing the extreme spread of the virus.
"Despite being a country famous for its oxygen production, India is in dire need of oxygen today. There’s a cry for help, the sidewalk has now become a crematorium in India," he said.
Also read: Indian Covid Strain: Two more cases identified in Jessore
He said Bangladesh is doing relatively good because of the courageous, far-sighted and humane leadership of Sheikh Hasina.
She has managed to bring the situation under control by coordinating between life and livelihood, the Awami League leader said.
People still trying to leave Dhaka defying restrictions, ignoring Covid risks
Many people are still making frantic efforts to leave Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their families in villages defying a ban on inter-district public transport due to the worsening Covid-19 situation.
Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims, is scheduled to be celebrated across the country later this week. Thousands of people started to leave the city from early in the morning on Sunday.
Witnesses said a large number of people were seen crossing Tongi Bridge from Abdullahpur of Uttara, Amin Bazar Bridge from Gabtoli, Postagola Burigonga bridge of Shympur and Babu Bazar Burigonga Bridge on foot.
The government has imposed lockdown restrictions since April due to an increase in the coronavirus infection. Even though long-distance buses are shut, people are travelling to villages in any way they can.
Also read: BGB deployed on Paturia-Daulatdia, Shimulia-Banglabazar routes
The number of ferries has been reduced at Mawa and Paturia terminals and BGB members have been deployed there to prevent people from crossing the Padma.
Despite the government's effort, people are continuing to rush to northern and southern districts from Dhaka on small vehicles ignoring health risks.
Ferry services were closed during the day.
Vexed over vaccines
The Directorate General of Health Services announced this week that Bangladesh’s stock of Covid-19 vaccines was running out, with only some 1.4 million jabs remaining in government hands. Given the current crisis in India, there is little to no hope of receiving the next consignment in accordance with the contract signed between Beximco Pharmaceuticals and the Serum Institute of India anytime soon.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Robed Amin said, “We had around 10.02 million vaccine doses in our hands…around 8.8 have already been administered as the first and second doses. Now we have some 1.4 million doses in stock.”
He went on to warn that there would be a vaccine crisis if a fresh consignment does not arrive in the country before the existing stock is exhausted. Robed said around 5.8 million people have so far received the first dose of the vaccine while 3 million of them have got the second, booster dose to complete their course of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine. That leaves 2.8 million people yet to complete the course, of which 1.4 million can be covered from the current stock, since the government has stopped registering any new recipients through the Shurokkha app.
Clearly, the priority has shifted to covering these people rather than reaching a situation where a large number of them are left in limbo, considering the uncertainty over when Serum may resume supplies. As reported before, the government is now looking at alternative suppliers, something they would possibly have been well-advised to do earlier, from Russia and China, as well as others. But in the absence of any clear data yet on whether the vaccines can be mixed or matched, concentrating the remaining doses on letting as many people as possible complete their course is only the right thing to do.
Till Eid, which is about when supplies are estimated to lost, you’re unlikely to see any new faces popping up on your social media feed with their ‘vaccine selfie’. Unless they skipped it the first time, which is unlikely.
From pillar to post
Reaffirming that the government is making all-out efforts to collect Covid-19 vaccines from different sources, Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday (May 6) said they are now “at the stage” of signing a deal with Russia to procure the Sputnik V vaccine.
Speaking at a virtual discussion arranged by Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, he said they are also trying to procure the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine from other countries besides India – AstraZeneca has licensed production in some 15 countries already.
Also read: Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
“We’ve been using the AstraZeneca vaccine as we had placed an order for 3 crore (30 million) doses of it. We’ve got only 70 lakh (7 million) jabs in addition to 30 lakh (3 million) that came as a gift…but now we don’t have that much vaccine in our stock and whatever is left will be given as the second dose,” the minister said.
He said the prime minister, Health Ministry, Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries are making joint efforts to procure vaccines from other sources.
“We’ve already made a huge progress in discussions with Russia over procuring its vaccine … now we’re at the stage of signing a deal in this regard,” Maleque said.
He said they are also in talks with China to have Sinopharm’s Covid vaccine. “They informed us that five lakh (500,000) doses will arrive in Bangladesh by May 12. We’ve also sent a letter to them seeking more vaccine doses.”
The minister said the Chinese government is now assessing the possibility of vaccine export to Bangladesh. It must be observed that it sounds like an uncharacteristically conservative offer from Beijing, for which the episode back in August 2020 comes to mind, when it all seemed very close to an agreement with the Chinese for vaccine supply, before the government seemed to get cold feet.
Getting back to Maleque, he was desperate to explain the government’s all-out efforts to get the vaccine. “Even, we’re trying to have AstraZeneca’s vaccine from other countries as it’s being manufactured in different countries. So, every effort is there to bring vaccines. We hope our efforts will yield good results, and we may be able to give you good news over the vaccine very soon,” he said.
The minister also said they will encourage the private sector if it tries to manufacture vaccines in Bangladesh. “If anyone can produce vaccines, we’ll provide all-out support, and it’s my commitment.”
Speaking at the same programme, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Enamur Rahman said there is no alternative to vaccinating people to control the coronavirus. He too tried to assure everyone the government is working sincerely on procuring vaccines from Russia, China and other sources as there has been a crisis of AstraZeneca’s jabs in India.
Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
He gave some hint as to what the government is looking at as a way to get past the pandemic, saying that all the pandemics that emerged in the world earlier had been brought under control through vaccination, although that’s not entirely true. “We hope we’ll be able to control the corona pandemic by vaccinating 60-80 percent of our people.”
What sort of timeframe they’re looking at to achieve that is up in the air, but it could be a good 2 years. Cases have been coming down in Bangladesh recently, but you never know when there can be another wave. The lesson we must heed going forward, is that never to close out any options during this crisis. And not to rest on our haunches. In that, the public has a role too, most evidently in maintaining the public health guidelines we’re now getting used to.
A shot at salvation?
It is of course well-documented by now that the pandemic has exposed some dangerous inequities between the rich world and the rest. The kind of problem the Bangladeshi authorities are dealing with today is scarcely seen in the West. While one in four citizens of rich nations have had a vaccine, just one in 500 people in poorer countries have done so, meaning the death toll continues to climb as the virus remains out of control. According to Oxfam, an international NGO, epidemiologists are predicting we have less than a year before mutations could render the current vaccines ineffective.
One of the reasons Pharma companies have been able to generate such large profits is because of intellectual property Last week, 175 former heads of state and Nobel Prize winners, including Gordon Brown, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Francoise Hollande wrote to President Biden to support the temporary waiving of intellectual property rights that restrict production to a handful of companies (those that develop the vaccine and others who obtain the license from them), to enable the rapid scale up of vaccine production across the world. They join the 1.5 million people in the US and other nations who have signalled their support for a People’s Vaccine.
Over 100 low- and middle-income nations, led by India and South Africa, are calling at the World Trade Organisation for a waiver of intellectual property protections on COVID-19 products during the pandemic, a move that had so far been opposed by the US, EU and other rich nations.
In a major shift, the Biden administration in the US this week joined the calls for more sharing of the technology behind COVID-19 vaccines to help speed the end of the pandemic, a shift that puts the US alongside many in the developing world who want rich countries to do more to get doses to the needy.
Also read: Can you mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines?
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the government’s position, amid World Trade Organisation talks about a possible temporary waiver of its protections that would allow more manufacturers to produce the life-saving vaccines.
“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines,” Tai said in a statement.
She cautioned that it would take time to reach the required global “consensus” to waive the protections under WTO rules, and US officials said it would not have an immediate effect on the global supply of COVID-19 shots.
In a tweet, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John N. Nkengasong, said the Africa CDC welcomed the waiver and called the decision “leadership in action.” He added: “History will remember this decision as a great act of humanity!”
Tai’s announcement came hours after WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to a closed-door meeting of ambassadors from developing and developed countries that have been wrangling over the issue, but agree on the need for wider access to COVID-19 treatments.
The WTO’s General Council took up the issue of a temporary waiver for intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and other tools, which South Africa and India first proposed in October. The idea has gained support among some progressive lawmakers in the West.
More than 100 countries have come out in support of the proposal, and a group of 110 members of Congress — all fellow Democrats of Biden — sent him a letter last month that called on him to support the waiver.
Opponents — especially from industry — say a waiver would be no panacea. They insist that production of coronavirus vaccines is complex and can’t be ramped up by easing intellectual property. They also say lifting protections could hurt future innovation.
Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the US decision “will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines.”
Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization trade group, said in a statement that the decision will undermine incentives to develop vaccines and treatments for future pandemics.
“Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine,” she said.
Also read: More support easing vaccine patent rules, but hurdles remain
Pfizer declined to comment on Biden’s announcement, as did Johnson & Johnson, which developed a one-dose vaccine meant to ease vaccination campaigns in poor and rural areas. Moderna and AstraZeneca didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The companies have made some efforts to provide vaccine doses to poor countries at prices well below what they’re charging wealthy nations.
For instance, Johnson & Johnson agreed last week to provide up to 220 million doses of its vaccine to the African Union’s 55 member states, starting in this year’s third quarter, and agreed in December to provide up to 500 million vaccines through 2022 for low-income countries via Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance.
Shares of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — huge companies with many lucrative products — fell less than 1% on the news. But Moderna, whose vaccine is the company’s only product, fell 6.2% in late-afternoon trading before gaining back two-thirds of a percent in after-hours trading.
It remained unclear how some countries in Europe, which have influential pharmaceutical industries and had previously shared U.S. reservations about the waiver, would respond.
WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said a panel on intellectual property at the trade body was expected to take up the waiver proposal again at a “tentative” meeting later this month, before a formal meeting June 8-9. That means any final deal could be weeks away at best.
Authors of the proposal have been revising it in hopes of making it more palatable.
Okonjo-Iweala, in remarks posted on the WTO website, said it was “incumbent on us to move quickly to put the revised text on the table, but also to begin and undertake text-based negotiations.”
“I am firmly convinced that once we can sit down with an actual text in front of us, we shall find a pragmatic way forward” that is “acceptable to all sides,” she said.
Co-sponsors of the idea were shuttling between different diplomatic missions to make their case, according to a Geneva trade official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. A deadlock persists, and opposing sides remain far apart, the official said.
The argument, part of a long-running debate about intellectual property protections, centres on lifting patents, copyrights and protections for industrial design and confidential information to help expand the production and deployment of vaccines during supply shortages. The aim is to suspend the rules for several years, just long enough to beat down the pandemic.
The issue has become more pressing with a surge in cases in India, the world’s second-most populous country and a key producer of vaccines — including one for COVID-19 that relies on technology from Oxford University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca.
Michael Yee, a Jefferies Group biotech analyst, wrote to investors that the key access issues for developing countries aren’t patents or price, but an inadequate supply of the materials needed and the know-how to produce the vaccines and keep quality high — which one of Johnson & Johnson’s contract manufacturers in the U.S. failed to do, ruining millions of doses.
“Manufacturing supplies, raw materials, vials, stoppers, and other key materials are in limited supply for 2021,” and may still be next year and beyond, Yee wrote. That’s partly because it takes time to make all those components, and Moderna and Pfizer have commitments to buy them “from major suppliers in huge bulk over the foreseeable future.”
He added that Pfizer previously sought authorization to sell its vaccine to India, which rejected its application and asked that additional studies be run. The U.S., European Union and many other countries have given that emergency authorization.
Proponents, including WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, note that such waivers are part of the WTO toolbox and insist there’s no better time to use them than during the once-in-a-century pandemic that has taken 3.2 million lives, infected more than 437 million people and devastated economies, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“This is a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19,” Tedros said in Wednesday statement. He said the U.S. commitment “to support the waiver of IP protections on vaccines is a powerful example of American leadership to address global health challenges.”
Additional reporting by Masudul Hoque and AP.
Workers cannot leave workplaces during Eid holidays: Monnujan
The workers, including the ones employed in the apparel sector, will not be allowed to leave their workplaces during the upcoming three-day Eid holidays to stop further spread of Covid-19, Labour and Employment State Minister Begum Monnujan Sufian said Sunday.
The state minister made the announcement during a tripartite meeting held in the capital to discuss the present situation of the workers, their salaries, and Eid bonus issues.
Also read: Country will be free of child labour within 2025: Monnujan Sufian
Increase allocation, operate cash transfer to disadvantaged communities: Experts
Experts have urged to increase allocation and operate cash transfer to disadvantaged communities noting that the Covid-19 situation has adversely affected members of these groups.
They also underscored the need for specific policies for vulnerable groups and the right direction to implement them.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Convenor of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), on Sunday made the keynote presentation at a webinar on what should be there for the ‘disadvantaged people’.
The platform has proposed a number of fiscal budgetary framework, strategic priorities and state of Covid stimulus packages, keeping in the purview of the upcoming 2021-22 budget.
“Employment is being restored with low skills and low-income jobs, extensive under-employment, growing indebtedness and deepening inequality are increasing during the second wave. Budgetary targets are not realised on both resource and expenditure sides,” Dr Debapriya added.
Apparent stability of the macroeconomic situation is also needed in terms of low inflation, stable exchange rate, moderate fiscal deficit and current account surplus.
The socio-economic impact and the disproportionate impact on traditionally marginalised communities (‘left behind’) as well as on low income and low middle-income people (‘pushed behind’) will be more protracted than the immediate health emergencies.
He said current circumstances demand special attention to consumption protection of the poor/low-income people and employment promotion at MSME level. “To initiate the midterm approach of FY 2021-22, we need to press all four triggers – consumption, investment, government spending and net exports,” the economist said.
A minimum two-three year time frame to have a robust recovery strategy with core budget, integrating recovery efforts with structural transformation needs, targeted discretionary support to the “left behind” and “push behind” communities/citizens and use SDG as a framework for poverty frame and align with 8FYP (2021-25) is critically important.
Until March of FY 2021, revenue collection was 50 percent of the target with 7.3(+) percent growth and ADP expenditure was 42 percent of total allocation with 4.3(-) percent growth.
Financing budget deficit were seen due to low use of foreign concessional finance, high borrowing from the banking sector and costly borrowing through NSC needs to be retrained. Use of concessional foreign finance to be prioritised to improve ADP implementation as well as to keep budget deficit from increasing.
The disadvantaged population of the country bears the disproportionate adverse impact of such shortfall in public development programme. In 2020, we were concerned about resource availability (lack of fiscal space) to confront the pandemic. In 2021, we can say it is the inability to implement the public expenditure programmes which has become the binding constraint, he said.
“We also need to create an integrated database of potential recipients of government supports including social safety nets and to improve the quality of the public expenditures, involvement of stakeholders at different levels are required,” he added.
According to the keynote, in FY 2020, before July 2020, total Tk 77,278 crore (2.76% of GDP) stimulus was announced. In FY 2021, till May 2021, the amount was roughly Tk 47,715.50 crore (1.71% of GDP).
To have greater fiscal multiplier effect, Bangladesh needs to push resources to those having a high marginal propensity to consume (e.g., poorer households) and a high marginal propensity to invest (e.g., small entrepreneurs).
Substantive cash transfer to disadvantaged communities/citizens, liquidity flow to MSME, domestic market-oriented manufacturing diversification, post-harvest mechanisation of agriculture, IT-platform based high value service provision etc are some strategic priorities for the FY2021-22 budget.
In Covid related government support intervention, there were 14 fiscal support (including two food support) and this was less than 20.5% of total allocation. Eleven hybrid support (subsidy to interest rate) amounting a little above 79.5% of total allocation where 18 are new interventions and 7 were extension of the existing programme.
Hybrid support in FY 2020-21 includes additional Tk 10,000 crore in working capital loans to affected large industries and service sector. Some packages were announced in one fiscal year, but intended to disburse from following fiscal year fully or partly. The estimated net fiscal support (net fiscal support excludes fiscal support for agriculture sector and construction of home) is as low as 1.63 percent and 15.54 percent of total allocations in FY20 and FY21 respectively.
In terms of share of GDP, they are 0.04 percent and 0.19 percent respectively. Fiscal support was not only low in allocation but also slower in delivery. This overwhelming constraint cannot be addressed exclusively through strengthened administrative monitoring. This will need wide-ranging structural and institutional reforms.
Anisatul Fatema Yousuf, Coordinator of Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh; Advocate Sultana Kamal, Former Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra; Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow of CPD; ShaheenAnam, Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation; Rasheda K Choudhury, Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE); Dr Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice Chairperson of BRAC; Asif Ibrahim, Chairman of Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) & Syed Nasim Manzur, Chairman of Landmark Footwear Ltd and Founding Director of Apex Footwear Ltd, were also present at the event.
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.
Nothing to be worried about vaccines: FM
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Saturday said there is nothing to be worried about the availability of vaccines, noting that the government will have enough vaccines soon from alternative sources.
“I believe we'll have enough vaccines. No one should be worried about it. Vaccines will come timely and all will get it,” he said in a video message shared on his verified Facebook page.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladesh is much ahead of many countries in the world in procuring vaccines and launching vaccination drives across the country.
He said many European countries decided about which vaccine they should use just in April whereas in Bangladesh many people got vaccinated.
Apart from China and Russia, Dr Momen said, there is much possibility to get vaccines from the United States.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM
The Foreign Minister has recently written a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking vaccine doses from the US for immediate and long-term needs.
The government has sought immediate release of 2-4 million doses of vaccine from the United States (US) and a total of 10 to 20 million doses of vaccine for the long term supply.
The US will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines vaccine with other countries as they become available.
The Foreign Minister said 5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine will arrive here on May 12 as a gift from the Chinese government
The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.
Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister
The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
“The addition of this vaccine (Sinopharm COVID-19) has the potential to rapidly accelerate Covid-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk. We urge the manufacturer to participate in the COVAX Facility and contribute to the goal of more equitable vaccine distribution," says Dr Mariângela Simão, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Health Products.
Dr Momen said Russia's Sputnik V Covid vaccine showed over 97 percent efficacy while the Chinese vaccines were taken by 100 million people without any side effects.
He said the government of Bangladesh got the vaccines from India at a very low cost but they could not supply as per agreement due to the deteriorating situation in India with sharp rise of demands for vaccines there.
Earlier, the Foreign Minister said the government is not shifting its attention from India as there is an agreement with Serum Institute of India to get 3 crore doses of vaccine.
Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
He said India is yet to reply as Bangladesh sought at least 30 lakh doses of vaccine under the agreement to address the immediate demand in Bangladesh. “We’ll procure vaccines wherever we get it.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reaffirmed that the government will procure vaccines at any cost to protect people from coronavirus."We are bringing more vaccines, no matter how much money is required; we will bring more vaccines."
Bangladesh has received 7 million of Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine doses produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) vaccines through its contract. Bangladesh also received 3.3 million doses of vaccine as a bilateral partnership gift. This is the largest amount sent from India to any country.