coronavirus BD
Another EC official dies of Covid in Mymensingh
Additional regional election officer of Mymensingh ABM Saifuzzaman died of Covid-19 on Tuesday. He was 45.
“He breathed his last at 11:20am at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital,” Mymensingh regional election officer (REO) Md Shahedunnabi Chowdhury told UNB.
Read: Bangladesh’s Covid nightmare: 235 more die, 15,776 infected
Saifuzzaman was admitted to the hospital on Thursday last as he tested positive for Covid-19.
He left behind wife and two daughters to mourn his death. He will be buried at his village in Atpara Upazila of Netrakona district.
With Saifuzzaman, eight EC staff died of Covid-19 and some 200 staff got infected with the virus.
Read: Chattogram EC official dies of Covid-19
Of them, four EC staff died in July.
Sylhet REO Md Israil Hossain died on July 25 while Rajnagar Upazila election officer in Moulvibazar Alif Laila on July 7 last.
Bangladesh’s Covid nightmare: 235 more die, 15,776 infected
Amid the merciless onslaught of Covid-19 in Bangladesh, the country recorded 236 more deaths linked to the virus in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
According to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 15,776 more people came out positive with the virus during the period after the test of 55,284 samples.
The fresh numbers pushed the country’s death tally to 21,397 today with the caseload mounting to 1,296,093.
Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate fell to 28.58 % from Monday's 29.91%, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.
The country has been seeing over 14,300 cases and 230 deaths every day on average for the last seven days.
The recovery rate, however, rose to 86.80%, and the case fatality remained unchanged at 1.65% compared to the same period, said the DGHS.
Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Seniors far more likely to face the worst
Amid the growing concerns about the highly infectious Delta variant, Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Chattogram 65, Khulna 32, Rajshahi 21, Sylhet, Rangpur and Mymensingh each 12 and Barishal eight deaths.
Of today’s deceased, 140 were male and 95 were female.
Hiring hospitals
The government is going to rent hotels for providing treatment to Covid patients with mild complications as hospitals are under an unprecedented crisis with huge patients, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Tuesday.
“Already 90 percent of the seats in hospitals have been packed. And 95% ICU beds are also occupied. We’re preparing a field hospital at Bangabandhu Medical University where we can immediately arrange 500-600 beds,” he said.
Dhaka’s traffic overload that never ends, not even in lockdown!
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is known for its traffic congestion. One will see it, no matter whether there is a shutdown or bad weather because its chaotic traffic -- still too mild a term -- is its identity.
On the 12th day of lockdown, UNB correspondents saw the streets of Dhaka flooded with vehicles bringing back its chaotic days. Everything except public transports were plying city streets and people wandering around with little or no regard to the health guidelines.
The government, meanwhile, has extended the current lockdown till August 10 amid a surge in the delta variant of Covid-19 across the country.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque disclosed the decision of the government while talking to reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday.
He said shops, factories and offices will be reopened from August 11 while public transport will be allowed to ply roads on a limited scale once the lockdown is over.
After a reality check at different parts of the capital, including Shabagh, Uttara, Mohakhali, Mirpur, Kalabagan, Biijoy Srani, Badda, Farmgate, Shyamoli, Karwan Bazar and Bangla Motor, the UNB correspondents saw the capital almost returning to normal with, with an increased number of vehicles and people on the streets.
Read: People find 'easy excuses' to defy lockdown in Dhaka
Usual traffic jams were also seen at most of these places during office hours from 8:30 am to 11 am.
Public engagement missing in govt policy to fight Covid-19: Speakers
Speakers at a virtual dialogue on Sunday said it would not be possible to tackle the existing coronavirus situation with only the government’s initiatives as the public engagement is crucially needed here, which remains missing in the policy of the State.
“If all want to face this adverse situation bureaucratically, it’ll not work. Social engagement and initiatives will be required here alongside the government’s initiatives. Otherwise, I think Bangladesh would be affected so immensely,” said Bangladesh Workers Party MP Fazle Hossain Badsha (Rajshahi-2).
Citizen’s Platform for SDGs and the Hunger Project jointly arranged the dialogue titled “’Initiative for local people engagement in tackling Corona” through an online platform.
Badsha said the administration was entrusted with the responsibility (to deal Covid-19 pandemic). “The concept of public engagement is not there in the decisions of the State (Government),” he added.
“I think that it is not possible to reduce the Covid-19 infection (rate) without public engagement and their organised power…. A trained volunteer group is needed today to serve the people in this crisis,” said the lawmaker.
Convenor of the Citizen’s Platform Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya said now there is no alternative to a public engagement initiative in combating the pandemic.
“But the biggest obstacle here is the absence of necessary framework and guidelines on the part of the government for such a public engagement initiative. This absence is also undermining the effectiveness of various government stimulus delivery and awareness-raising about vaccination and health protocols,” he said.
Read: Bangladesh faces harder days as Covid kills 231 more
He questioned whether there is any ‘mental barrier’ among political leaders to engage the country’s non-government development initiatives or whether the political leaders consider them (non-government organisations) as their competitors not thinking them as partners.
Noting that it is the administration not political leaders who play the greater role in tackling the pandemic now at the local level, he also questioned if the administration also feels any sort of discomfort or mental barrier to engage private initiatives.
To fight the pandemic in a coordinated way, it is urgently needed to have a national guideline over public engagement shunning the narrow attitude towards private ventures, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
Noted economist Prof Rehman Sobhan stressed the need for collective action in coordination of the government and private initiatives to fight the pandemic. “Civil Societies are not competitors rather they are partners (of the government),” he said.
Country Director of the Hunger Project Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar in his keynote presentation said the Corona Resilient Village (CRV) initiative is essential to check coronavirus transmission in the grassroots.
He said now the coronavirus has already spread throughout the country due to community transmission. It’ll take a long time to bring all the people under the vaccination coverage. Besides, there is still uncertainty even about the effectiveness of vaccines.
Read: Bangladesh to resume administering AstraZeneca jabs Monday
“So, this coronavirus problem will not go away so easily. We’ll have to lead life coping up with it…This is why we took the CRV initiative last year,” said Dr Majumdar explaining that the CRV initiative is based on volunteer work and run by the community leadership.
Noted personality Prof Rounaq Jahan said people are much aware but don’t practice the health protocols. “So, it is essential now to reduce the gap between awareness and practice,” she said.
Mentioning that the government frequently changes its Covid decisions, Prof Jahan said, “The government will have to stick to its policy (not changing it frequently), if it wants to enforce more successfully and reduce the awareness-practice gap.”
Swapan Kumar Das, Chairman of Fakirhat Upazila in Bagerhat, said the coordination between the public representatives and the administration in the fight against coronavirus was not seen in many places.
“But the lack of coordination is not seen here in my place (upazila), though the public representatives don’t have so much responsibility here as they are just assisting the administration,” he said.
Awami League MP (Meherpur-2) Mohammad Shahiduzzaman and public health expert Dr Lelin Choudhury, among others, address the dialogue presided over by Dr Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury.
Bangladesh faces harder days as Covid kills 231 more
With the Delta variant of Covid-19 tearing through Bangladesh, the country reported 231 more deaths in 24 hours till Sunday morning.
Besides, 14,844 people came out positive for the virus after the test of 49,529 samples, said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
It said the fresh cases took Bangladesh’s total fatality to 20,916 while the caseload to 1,264,328.
Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate marked a negligible fall to 29.97% from Saturday’s 30.24 %, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.
On average, the country has been seeing nearly 14,000 cases and over 200 deaths daily for a week.
However, the recovery rate rose to 86.47% from the previous day’s 86.29 % and the case fatality rate fell to 1.65% from last day’s 1.66 %, said the DGHS media release.
Also read: Covid-19: What life is like when hospitals refuse admission!
During the 24-hour period, 15,054 patients recovered from the fatal disease.
Among the latest fatalities, the highest 77 deaths were recorded in Dhaka division followed by 53 in Chattogram, 44 in Khulna, 18 in Rangpur, 13 in Rajshahi, 11 in Mymensingh, six in Barishal, and nine in Sylhet divisions.
Of them, 139 were men and 92 women.
Lockdown: Temporary exemption in effect for road, water transport till Sunday noon
The government has allowed the movement of all public transport services till Sunday 12pm to help the export-oriented factory workers and officials to return to their workplaces.
Bus, launch and train services will be operational in all routes across the country during this time.
The development was confirmed by the Press Information Department Saturday amid a strict lockdown which will continue till August 5.
Read: No decision yet on lockdown extension: Farhad
Also, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) "allowed all water transport to operate from Saturday evening to Sunday 12pm to transport factory workers."
The decisions came a day after the government allowed export-oriented factories to restart production from tomorrow amid the ongoing lockdown.
Read: Covid kills 218 more in Bangladesh as its catastrophe continues
Despite the suspension of public transports, thousands of people started returning to Dhaka through alternative means on the ninth day of the lockdown Saturday.
A record surge in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide stringent lockdown, suspending all outdoor activities unless there is an emergency.
Covid kills 218 more in Bangladesh as its catastrophe continues
As health authorities scramble to prevent the spread of the Delta variant, Bangladesh added 218 fatalities to its national tally on Saturday.
The country registered over 200 single-day fatalities for the last six days as it is fighting a horrific wave of the pandemic that overwhelmed its healthcare systems.
The country recorded 9,369 new cases on Saturday after testing 30,980 samples, and reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatality number – 258 – on July 27 and 16,230 infections the next day, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
There have been 1,249,484 positive cases and 20,685 coronavirus-related deaths here since the pandemic began, the DGHS said.
Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate took a negligible fall to 30.24% from Friday’s 30.77 %, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.
However, the recovery rate rose to 86.29% from the previous day’s 85.81 % and the case fatality rate to 1.66% from last day’s 1.65 %.
Read: No decision yet on lockdown extension: Farhad
As many as 14,017 patients recovered from the fatal disease in the 24-hour period.
Among the latest deaths, the highest 67 deaths were recorded in Dhaka division followed by 55 in Chattogram, 27 in Khulna, 22 in Rajshahi, 16 in Rangpur, 12 in Mymensingh, 10 in Barishal, and nine in Sylhet divisions.
Of them, 134 were men and 84 women. Among them, one was between 0-10 years of age, six between 21-30, 17 between 31-40, 37 between 41-50, 37 between 51-60, 66 between 61-70, 33 between 71-80, 15 between 81-90, four between 91-100 and two over 100 years old.
Astrazeneca’s fresh rollout
On a positive note, Bangladesh will resume vaccination with Astrazeneca shots within the next few days, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
“We’ll resume vaccination with Astrazeneca jabs within the next 2-1 days. Those who failed to take the second dose after getting the first one will be able to get it now,” he said.
He said the government has an overall stock of 2 crore 60 lakh vaccine doses now.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday received the second consignment of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from Japan under the COVAX facility.
Read: Vaccination with Astrazeneca jabs in Bangladesh to resume within days
The second consignment contains 7,81,320 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
A cargo flight of Cathay Pacific that carried the vaccine doses from Japan landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:15 pm.
The third consignment that will contain 6,16,780 doses of the vaccine is scheduled to arrive here on August 3.
Breaching Lockdown: Arrests decline at last on weekly holiday
Police arrested 381 people in Dhaka for violating lockdown restrictions on the 8th day of the 14-day (unless extended) countrywide lockdown on Friday.
It was the first time in a week that the number dropped below 500, as movement of vehicles and people was comparatively less, presumably for being a holiday.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for coming out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 6,7940 as fines from 108 people.
During this time, the Traffic Division collected Tk 817000 as penalties from 321 vehicles for failing to comply with coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Read: Bangladesh records 212 more Covid deaths setting off alarm bells
Although people movements were less inside Dhaka, the scenario was different at the entry points as the UNB correspondents observed huge groups of people entering the capital, maintaining the trend of the last few days.
As the law enforcement agencies are arresting and collecting fimes from people for violating restrictions on one hand, the government has decided to reopen all export-oriented factories from 1 August on the other.
The cabinet division has issued a notification in this regard stating that all export-oriented factories will remain out of the purview of the ongoing lockdown restrictions which is expected to continue till Aug 5, unless extended further.
The decision came today after the business leaders on Thursday requested the government to reopen garment factories and other industries amid the lockdown.
The government reinforced 14-day strict lockdown restrictions following Eid vacation till August 5.
Read: Covid surge in Bangladesh: Primary schools to remain shut until Aug 31
Unlike the all out restrictions before Eid, mills and factories were instructed to remain closed during this time.
There are speculations that the government might extend the lockdown as the Covid infections are at its peak shattering records of highest single day transmissions and deaths every other day.
Bangladesh records 212 more Covid deaths setting off alarm bells
As Bangladesh races to head off a surge in Covid-19 cases driven by the Delta variant, the country added 212 fatalities to its national tally on Friday, up from 166 logged a week earlier.
The country has been shattering the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day, reporting over 200 single-day fatalities for the last six days as it tries to prevent the spread of the Delta variant.
The rapid rise in cases and fatalities in July is enough to set off alarm bells, showing the pandemic is far from slowing down in Bangladesh.
The Covid-19 infections are at their peak now, with 12,293 new cases reported on average each day, plunging the country into uncertainty.
As the worst days of the pandemic are not over, Bangladesh recorded 13,862 new cases on Friday after testing 45,044 samples, up from 6,364 logged a week earlier on 23 July.
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Schools, colleges to remain closed until Aug 31
The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary-level educational institutions until August 31 due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.
The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers in consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said an official release signed by MA Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry on Thursday.
Earlier, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said the government had decided to reopen educational institutions, particularly the primary, secondary and higher secondary ones, in Bangladesh on June 13 if the Covid-19 situation does not deteriorate.
Later, the government announced the extension of closure of schools and colleges till July 31, and the Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard.
The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh lowers vaccination age to 25
The closure was extended several times after that.
On February 22, the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24. Residential halls were also scheduled to be reopened on May 17. But that did not happen due to the worsening pandemic.
Covid situation in Bangladesh
As the Delta variant of Covid-19 engulfed the country, Bangladesh recorded 239 more deaths caused by the virus in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
Besides, 15,271 new people came out Covid positive during the period after the test of 52,282 samples, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh cases took the country’s Covid death tally to 20,255 today while the caseload to 1,226,253.
Read: Covid in Bangladesh: Daily toll remains above 200; 15,271 more infected
The country has been seeing nearly 200 deaths a day for the past two weeks, shattering the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day.
Meanwhile, the daily test-positivity rate declined slightly to 29.21% from Wednesday's 30.12% while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a 5% or below rate.
However, the case fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.65 % during the period, said the DGHS.