Covid-19 update
'Project O2 for India' initiated to meet rising oxygen demand
The office of the Principal Scientific Adviser of Indian Government on Sunday said ''Project O2 for India'' has been initiated to ensure supply of critical raw materials such as zeolites, setting up of small oxygen plants, and manufacturing of compressors. according to a report of NDTV.
The second wave of COVID-19 saw an increase in demand for medical oxygen in different parts of the country, it said in a statement.
Read: Supreme Court steps in to resolve India's oxygen crisis
While meeting the current demand, manufacturing medical oxygen also became important to ensure the country has adequate supply in the future.
"Project O2 for India" of the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser is to enable stakeholders working to augment the country's ability to meet this rise in demand for medical oxygen.
"Under Project O2 for India, a National Consortium of Oxygen is enabling the national level supply of critical raw materials such as zeolites, setting up of small oxygen plants, manufacturing compressors, final products, i.e.,oxygen plants, concentrators, and ventilators," according to the statement.
Read: 24 die in southern India hospital due to oxygen shortage
The consortium is not only looking forward to providing immediate to short-term relief but also working to strengthen the manufacturing ecosystem for long-term preparedness.
A committee of experts has been evaluating critical equipment such as oxygen plants, concentrators, and ventilators from a pool of India-based manufacturers, start-ups, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The manufacturing and supply consortium includes Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL); Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE); C-CAMP, Bengaluru; IIT Kanpur; IIT Delhi; IIT Bombay, IIT Hyderabad; IISER, Bhopal; Venture Center, Pune; and more than 40 MSMEs, it said.
Read Why Shouldn’t You Store Oxygen Cylinder at Home During COVID-19 Pandemic?
The consortium has started to secure CSR/philanthropic grants from organisations like USAID, Edwards Life sciences Foundation, Climate Works Foundation, etc, it said.
Hope Foundation, American Indian Foundation, Walmart, Hitachi, BNP Paribas, and eInfoChips are procuring oxygen concentrators and VPSA/PSA plants as part of their CSR efforts to aid the consortium's work.
NMDC Ltd has agreed to fund the procurement of raw materials like zeolite for the manufacturers in the consortium, it added.
Read Oxygen plant to be set up at Osmani Medical College Hospital
Source: NDTV
Indian variant couldn't spread much: Health Minister
The highly contagious Indian variant of coronavirus did not spread much in Bangladesh, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Monday.
“This (Indian) variant has been found in a small number of patients in Bangladesh. It could not spread much as the border with the neighbouring country was closed in time," he said.
Also Read: Administering of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine to begin on May
In a briefing at his ministry, he advised keeping the border shut until India's situation stabilises.
Meanwhile, Maleque said that administering of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine will begin on May 25 or 26.
“Vaccine will be given to those who need it the most,” he said while responding to a question from reporters.
Also Read: No crisis of oxygen in hospitals: Health Minister
‘Good news soon’
Minister Maleque said the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will run out within seven to 10 days but the government is trying to get vaccines to continue the inoculation drive.
“We contacted the Indian High Commissioner, we talked to the UK authorities and the Prime Minister is also trying to get the vaccine doses,” he said.
Maleque said the government has taken some initiatives.
“We talked to the US, China, Russia and the UK and some progress has been made. Hopefully you will get a good news soon. As per contracts, we got only seven million doses out of 30 million. We’re also worried about the second dose of vaccine like you,” he added.
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.
Sinopharm begins shipment of its vaccine to Bangladesh
Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm has started delivering its vaccine doses to Bangladesh.
The company has finished packing 500 thousand doses of the gifted vaccine, which are now heading towards Beijing Capital International Airport in a cold-chain container truck.
Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Monday officially announced that 5 lakh doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine will reach Bangladesh on May 12 as a “special gift”.
Also Read: 5 lakh doses of Chinese vaccine to arrive on May 12: Envoy
"It's the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation which again shows that our two peoples are in the same boat and we will stand with each other till the end of this battle," he said.
The Ambassador made the announcement during an interaction with the members of Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) held virtually. DCAB President Pantho Rahaman and General Secretary AKM Moinuddin also spoke at the event.
"China is dedicated to international vaccine cooperation," said the Chinese envoy, adding that the Sinopharm vaccine has already been recognised and used in over 50 countries and regions globally for quite some time.
Also Read: Beijing wants Dhaka notto join Quad
“This is a new vote of confidence in China’s vaccines cast by the world. The Bangladeshi government also gave emergency use authorisation to the vaccine a week prior to the WHO’s clearance, which I believe is a far-sighted decision. It shows the faith put in China by Bangladesh, and it will surely mean a lot to our future cooperation,” he said.
According to clinical statistics provided by Sinopharm and the evaluation of the WHO, the efficacy rate of the vaccine is estimated to reach 79%, all age groups included.
Ambassador Li said the vaccine is recommended for adults aged 18 and older, and WHO did not indicate any upper age limit for use as data suggests that the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in elder persons.
Read Bangladesh approves emergency use of Chinese Covid vaccine
“It’s also the first vaccine carrying a vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that changes colour with the exposure to heat, thus warning health professionals if any doses go bad,” he said.
As the Covid-19 is still wreaking a havoc on people’s lives and disturbing social and economic activities in Bangladesh, the 500 thousand doses of vaccine are arriving just in time. It is the latest outcome of China-Bangladesh anti-pandemic cooperation.
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.
Read Chinese drugmaker: Vaccine 79.3% effective in final tests
The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
Bangladesh has kept up its intensified efforts to get Oxford-AstraZeneca and China's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines from India, China and the United States.
The Chinese Ambassador said China proposed providing the vaccine doses as a gift on February 3 and the government of Bangladesh took three months to approve it.
Read Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19
He said there is a high demand of Chinese vaccines and it will take time to get vaccines through commercial purchase.
The Ambassador said Bangladesh proposed getting Chinese vaccines through commercial purchase on April 30 and Bangladesh could have got those much earlier if the decision had been taken timely.
He laid emphasis on quick and effective decisions by the government of Bangladesh on issues like vaccines.
Read What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine?
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 41 deaths in 24 hours, lowest in 39 days
Amid the declining trend in Covid-19 infections and fatalities after an alarming surge in April, Bangladesh registered 41 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Thursday, pushing up the total fatalities to 11,796.
This is the lowest number of Covid deaths in the country after March 28 this year. Bangladesh saw 35 deaths on March 28.
However, 1,822 new cases were detected during the period after the test of 21,585 samples.
The mortality rate remained static at 1.53 percent, said the Directorate General of Health Services in a handout.
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month on Wednesday as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Manwhile, the daily infection rate fell to 8.44 percent from Wednesday’s 8.59 percent, according to the data provided by DGHS.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,69,160.
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
Until now, the country has tested 55,82,263 samples.
In the last 24 hours, 3,698 patients recovered from Covid-19, putting the recovery rate at 91.29 %.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year, before confirming the first death 10 days later.
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
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 and new registration for Covid-19 jab has remained suspended since April 26.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
Also read: Deal with Russia soon over Covid vaccine: Health Minister
In the last 24 hours, 43 people have received the first dose and 102,915 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 33,13,424 people managed to complete their second dose.
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…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.
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Also read: Bangladesh seeks immediate delivery of 4 mn vaccine doses from US: FM
Vaccine production
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 Sputnik V vaccine of Russia.
“We’ll get 5 lakh doses of the Chinese vaccine as gift within 7-10 days. Then we’ll start distribution. Then the government will start buying those on G2G basis,” Mahbubur Rahman, Director General of DGDA told reporters.
On April 28, Dr Shahida Aktar, additional secretary of the Cabinet Division noted that the government will purchase vaccine technology from Russian and China through direct procurement method (DPM).
Lockdown extended until May 16
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.
Also read: Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6
Shops and shopping malls will remain open from 10 am to 8 pm 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 will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Covid’s daily death toll in Bangladesh falls to 50
Bangladesh recorded 50 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours until Wednesday morning, showing a marked fall in the fatality rate.
With the new death figure, the mortality from the Coronavirus rose to 11,755, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The number of Covid deaths came down to 50 after over a month as the country saw 50 deaths on April 1 and it had kept rising since then.
Health authorities recorded 1,742 new cases during the period.
The latest figure pushed up the caseload to 7,67,338.
However, the infection rate fell to 8.59 percent from Tuesday’s 8.71 percent while the fatality rate remained static at 1.53 percent.
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.
In the last 24 hours, 427 labs across the country tested 20,284 samples.
Among the recent deaths, 32 were men while 18 were women.
Besides 3,433 patients recovered from Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, putting the recovery rate at 91.02%.
Also Read: Serum to return money if fails to provide vaccine: Finance Minister
Vaccination Drive
Bangladesh kicked off its vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
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 since April 26, and no one in the country has received the second dose in the last 48 hours.
However, DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccines by early May.
In the last 24 hours, 38 people have received the first dose and 83,540 have received the second dose of Covid vaccine, a figure which is exactly the same of yesterday, according to the DGHS handout.
So far, a total of 72,48,829 people received vaccines where 31,06709 people managed to complete their second dose.
Also Read: Covid vaccine stock running out: DGHS
Vaccine stock dwindling
The DGHS on Wednesday said the stock of the Covid-19 vaccine is running out in Bangladesh as there are only 14 lakh jabs in government hands with no sign in sight to get a fresh consignment of it from India.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, DGHS spokesperson Dr Robed Amin said, “We had around one crore and two lakh vaccines in our hands…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.
Also Read: New variant may be behind Covid surge in Bangladesh: Experts
Drive intensified to get vaccines from US
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Wednesday said the government has intensified its efforts to have vaccine jabs from the United States (US) as it will share up to 60 million doses of its Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with other countries.
Lockdown extended
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 10 am to 8 pm 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 will operate ensuring health guidelines from Thursday.
However, launch and train services will remain off.
Will be clear soon whether Indian variant reached Bangladesh: DGHS
The government will be confirmed within a few days whether the highly contagious Indian variant of coronavirus has already reached Bangladesh as an investigation is going on in this regard, said Director General of Health Services (DGHS) on Monday.
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.”
Also Read: Shutting border with India: Experts praise it as prudent decision
Replying to a question, Nazmul said whether those who have taken the first doses of the Oxford vaccine can take the second doses of any other company’s vaccine, he said they did not yet get any specific advice from the World Health Organization and vaccine companies to this end.
He said they will wait for 12 weeks to have the Oxford Vaccine and they hope they will get it by this time.
“There’s some sort of politics and diplomacy around the world over vaccines. Even then, it should be the ultimate victory of humanity. As we’ve seen Bangladesh finally came out victorious always. That's why we want to be confident that we’ll get the Oxford vaccine and will complete the second dose with the same,” The DGHS spokesman said.
He said the stock of the vaccine collected by the government from India is about to run out.
Nazmul said 58,19,709 people received the first doses of the vaccine while 29,36,241 the second doses as of May 2. “We don’t have many vaccine doses in our hands now.”
He said they hoped that they would get vaccine doses from China by this month.
Also Read: Coronavirus: 'Double mutant' Covid variant found in India
The DGHS spokesman said efforts are on to collect the vaccines from different sources, including China and Russia, as early as possible.
Stating that mask is the biggest preventive gear against Coronavirus in absence of a vaccine, Nazmul urged all to wear masks whenever they come out of their homes and maintain health safety rules to remain safe from the virus.
Covid-19: Bangladesh records 78 deaths, 3,031 new cases
Bangladesh reported 78 more coronavirus-related deaths and 3,031 new cases on Tuesday morning, showing a downtrend.
The country witnessed over 100 deaths from April 16 to 19 and April 25 as the second wave of the virus hit Bangladesh.
The daily infection rate slipped to 12:51 percent from Monday’s 12.82 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.49 percent.
So far, 751,659 cases and 11,228 deaths have been confirmed, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
The number of recoveries now stands at 666,927 including 5,234 new cases which indicates 88.73 percent of the patients have recovered.
Also read: FM to join China-led virtual meeting on vaccine cooperation
The new cases were confirmed after testing 24,237 samples in the last 24 hours until morning. Bangladesh has so far tested 5,395,524 samples.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Deaths, cases soar in April
In the last 27 days, the country witnessed 2,182 fatalities and 136,882 new cases, making it the most fatal month since the outbreak began last year.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Registering most of the deaths – 6,564 or 58.46 percent, Dhaka division remains the worst-hit region.
Of the latest fatalities, 50 were reported from Dhaka division and 10 from Chattogram division.
Six each died in Khulna, Rajshahi, three in Sylhet, one in Barishal, and two in Mymensingh divisions.
Lockdown extended
A rapid increase in Covid infections prompted the government to enforce a lockdown from early April which failed to achieve the intended result.
Global Covid-19 cases approaching 147 million
With the worsening Covid-19 situation, the global cases is nearing 147 million with more than 3.10 million fatalities.
According to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count reached 146,830,782 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 3,106,384.
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 142 million
The US has registered 32,077, 076 cases with 572,200 fatalities.India has been experiencing a devastating Covid-19 situation with a recording of more than 300,000 cases every day.
India’s total tally reached 16,960,172 while the death toll from the virus climbed to 192,311.
The unfolding crisis is most visceral in India’s overwhelmed graveyards and crematoriums, and in heartbreaking images of gasping patients dying on their way to hospitals due to lack of oxygen, reports AP.
Burial grounds in the capital New Delhi are running out of space. Bright, glowing funeral pyres light up the night sky in other badly hit cities.
Brazil's Covid-19 death toll on Sunday reached 390,797 after registering another 1,305 fatalities, the country's ministry of health reported.
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 138 million
According to the ministry, another 32,572 cases were registered, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 14,340,787.
Since the beginning of this year, the country has been facing a new wave of the virus, which has resulted in the collapse of a large part of its healthcare system.
Situation in Bangladesh
After a slight fall for several days, Bangladesh’s daily coronavirus death toll crossed the 100-mark again on Sunday with a sharp fall in new cases.
Fatalities climbed to 11,053 with 101 deaths in the past 24 hours until the morning. The virus also infected 2,922 people, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
The daily infection rate rose to 13.33 percent from Saturday’s 13.11 percent while the mortality rate remained static at 1.48 percent.
Bangladesh has so far confirmed 745,322 coronavirus cases.Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Vaccination campaign
Bangladesh launched a vaccination drive on February 7 with Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses it purchased from the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd.
Bangladesh signed an agreement with Serum for 30 million doses. But a record number of cases in India has made the delivery of the vaccine doses uncertain.
The administering of the first dose will remain suspended from April 26, DGHS said today.DGHS DG Prof ABM Khurshid Alam assured that Bangladesh will get 2.1 million doses of vaccine by the first week of May.
So far, 5,798,880 people have received the first dose and 2,155,296 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Covid-19: Bangladesh sees 98 more deaths, 4014 new infections
Bangladesh recorded 98 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours 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 had broken 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:Covid-19 vaccine not a 'silver bullet': WHO
1.2 mln infections in April
April has been the deadliest month since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic with 1,735 deaths and 121,306 new cases recorded in the last 22 days.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.