Health Minister
Decision on educational institutions after meeting with NTAC: Dipu Moni
Education Minister Dipu Moni on Saturday said the decision on how to deal with educational institutions amid the Covid-19 surge will be taken after the ministry’s meeting with the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 on Sunday.
The government formed the 17-member national technical advisory committee with independent experts and government representatives in April, 2020 to recommend measures to tackle the pandemic in the country.
“The government, however, doesn’t want to shut the educational institutions now,” she said while talking to reporters after attending the silver jubilee programme of Dhaka Imperial College.
No plan yet to shut educational institutions: Health Minister
The government has no plan right now to shut educational institutions even though Covid-19 cases keep rising across the world, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
“Covid infections are on the rise in many countries but it is still under control in Bangladesh. The educational institutions are here and the government has no plan to close those now,” he said.
The Health Minister came up with the information while talking to reporters at a programme on distributing blankets among destitute people in Manikganj on Saturday.
The government has decided to operate public transport, including buses and trains at half of their capacities to contain the spread of Covid-19, he said adding, “The directives will come soon to enforce the decision.”
READ: New restrictions soon to fight off Covid: Health Minister
The government has taken some steps to stem the Covid-19 and the hospitals, nurses and physicians in the districts and upazilas have been kept ready to provide medical services, said Maleque.
Besides, the government decided to close shops and markets by 8 pm and not to allow unvaccinated people to take food at restaurants, he said.
Issuing a note of warning that people will be fined through mobile courts if found without masks, the minister said, “As the Covid-19 situation in the country is under control, the wheels of the economy are still moving and the production activities in factories are seen as normal. The students are able to attend their classes.”
New restrictions soon to fight off Covid: Health Minister
Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases, the government is going to put some restrictions, including plying public transport at their half capacities and closing shops and markets by 8pm, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday. “Public buses will operate at half of their capacities while shops and shopping malls will have to be closed by 8 pm instead of 10 pm,” Maleque said while talking to reporters at the Secretariat. Deputy Commissioners have been asked to enforce the directives within seven days, he added.
Read: Unvaccinated people cannot dine in restaurants: Health Minister “Some patients infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been detected in the country. In the last two weeks, the number of Covid patients was 250 on average but yesterday the country recorded 675 patients, which is very alarming,” he said. Maleque also asked people to remain more careful. “Passengers won’t be allowed to travel in public transport without masks, and passengers will be fined if found without masks.” Besides, shops and shopping malls will be allowed to keep open till 8 pm instead of 10 pm, and no one will be allowed in shops and shopping malls without masks, said Maleque. “Both the shop owners and customers will be fined if they defy the directives,” he said.
Unvaccinated people cannot dine in restaurants: Health Minister
Though the government is not thinking about enforcing any lockdown in the country to control the fresh Covid surge, it is going to intensify the preventive measures to rein in the transmission of the deadly virus, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday.
“Unvaccinated people won’t be allowed to take food in restaurants. Only those who’ve received vaccines can enter restaurants showing their vaccine certificates,” the minister told reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting on the issue of new Covid variant Omicron at the Secretariat.
Lockdown not in plan right now, says Health Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday said the government does not want to impose any fresh lockdown right now but it might think about it if there is any unusual surge in the Covid-19 infection rate.
“We don’t want any lockdown. But we’ve to maintain health protocols. The government will take tough measures to force people to maintain health protocols,” said the minister while talking to local journalists after attending a booster dose launching event at Manikganj Nursing College.
The Covid situation is still better in Bangladesh despite the surge in cases worldwide driven by the new variant Omicron, said Zahid Maleque.
“Already, oral Covid pills have reached the country’s markets. But these pills are not any alternative to vaccines. Those who have got infected with it have mild symptoms,” he added.
The minister said the vaccination drive against Covid has already started at the ward level and it will be possible to administer at least 4 crore doses of Covid vaccine in January.
Read: UK reports its first Omicron death
“There’s no vaccine crisis in the country. Six crores more syringes have been imported from China to carry out the vaccination drive.”
Director (Admin) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Samiul Haq, Deputy Commissioner Md Abdul Latif were, among others, present.
Bangladesh logged four more Covid-linked deaths with 370 fresh infections in 24 hours till Saturday morning.
With the detection of the fresh cases after testing 15,074 samples, the daily-case positivity rate slightly declined to 2.43 per cent from Friday’s 2.74 per cent during the period, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The fresh numbers reported on Saturday took the country’s total fatalities to 28,076 while the caseload mounted to 15,85,909.
Meanwhile, the mortality rate remained static at 1.77 per cent during the period.
Besides, the recovery rate declined to 97.69 per cent with the recovery of 203 more patients during the 24-hour period.
Bangladesh reported daily Covid cases above 500 after two months. On October 13, the country logged 518 new Covid cases with 17 deaths.
Meanwhile, three more Covid cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in Bangladesh, raising the total tally to seven, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data, shared the results on Wednesday.
Registration for booster dose to begin at Dec-end: Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday said the registration through ‘Surokkha’ App for administering Covid-19 booster dose will start at the end of December after updating the app.
“The ICT ministry is working to update the app. Now the citizens above 60 and frontliners are getting the booster shot on a limited scale by showing their vaccine cards,” the minister told reporters at the secretariat.
The government started administering booster doses to health workers on a trial basis in Dhaka on Sunday, he said.
Fearing the spread of the new variant, Zahid Maleque said Omicron has not yet spread in the country. “Necessary steps are being taken to check the spread of Omicron.”
Current booster effective against Omicron: Health Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Sunday said the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine will work against the newly emerged variant Omicron.
“We’ve information that Omicron can largely be prevented by taking booster doses,” he said while inaugurating the trial administration of booster doses at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS) in Mohakhali in the morning.
As the government has enough stock of vaccines, the decision to administer the third booster dose has been taken, said Minister Maleque.
“Anyone who has taken the first two doses of any Covid-19 vaccines is eligible to receive the Pfizer booster shot,” he said.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh rolls out booster dose in Dhaka
Above 60 senior citizens, patients with comorbidities and frontliners will get the booster shots on a priority basis, the minister said.
He said: “As per our plan to bring 70 per cent of the population under vaccination, we need to vaccinate 12 crore people by April, 2020.”
Booster doses to be rolled out on trial basis from Sunday: Health Minister
Covid-19 booster doses will be administered on trial basis from Sunday, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.
However, the minister did not mention the time and vaccination center where the booster doses will be administered.
The minister said this at a Pitha-Puli festival in Manikganj on Friday.
Maleque said the government decided to administer booster doses to senior citizens aged above 60 and frontliners, including doctors, nurses, government officials and journalists, who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago.
He said that all the activities to administer booster doses are underway. “The Prime Minister also has given approval to start a booster dose.”
In this regard, steps to update the ‘Surokkha’ app are in progress. Besides, lists of those who are eligible for booster dose are being prepared, said the minister.
Read: Covid booster doses to start within 7-10 days: Minister
Zahid Maleque said seven crore people received the first dose and 4.5 crore people have been fully vaccinated so far in Bangladesh.
There is no shortage of covid vaccines in the country. Currently, seven lakh doses of Pfizer vaccines are in stock. In all, 4.45 crore doses of vaccine are in stock.
Two crore more doses of vaccine will arrive next month, the minister added.
On Wednesday, Zahid Maleque said at a programme while receiving 80 lakh doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan and UK through the global COVAX facility that the drive to administer Covid-19 booster doses will be in the next seven to ten days.
On Monday, the Cabinet directed the authorities concerned, particularly the Health Minister and the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19, to work on a precise guideline over the campaign of booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Bangladesh.
PM also instructed earlier the technical committee to work on a precise guideline over when the booster dose campaign needs to be started.
On Sunday, the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended booster shots to the citizens above 60 and frontliners.
Read: National Committee recommends booster dose for above 60 citizens, frontliners
The senior citizens and frontliners who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago will get the booster dose, the NTAC recommended at a meeting.
It also suggested all to take steps to limit public gatherings, meetings and rallies to contain the spread of Omicron.
On December 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Omicron is now present in 57 countries and asked all countries to stay alert about the new variant.
A WHO panel named the Coronavirus variant ‘Omicron’ and classified it as a highly transmissible virus of concern, the same category that includes the predominant delta variant, which is still a scourge driving higher cases of sickness and death in Europe and parts of the USA.
Amid the growing concern over the new ‘Omicron’ variant of coronavirus, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) suggested the implementation of 15 instructions to prevent the spread of the new variant and urged all concerned to take measures to enforce the instructions.
Blindness rate in Bangladesh falls 35% in 20 years: Health Minister
Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said blindness had been reduced by 35% in the country over the past 20 years.
The minister said this as a chief guest at the inaugural function of the workshop titled 'Dissemination Seminar on Nationwide Blindness Survey 2020 Report,' organized by National Eye Care at a hotel in the capital on Thursday.
Establishment of community vision centres in every upazila, improvement in quality of services in district hospitals and medical colleges, eye camps, free cataract surgery and eye treatment, sight testing and various other steps have led to the decrease in blindness, the minister said.
Blindness is a serious health as well as social problem in Bangladesh, he said.
The minister further said a previous survey was conducted in 1999, which showed the prevalence of blindness over the age of 30 was 1.53%, with a total of 7,50,000 blindness cases.
The government launched the Programme ‘Strategy for National Eye Care for vision 2020 in Bangladesh’ in 2007 to reduce blindness to 0.77% by 2020.
Eye care service has progressed considerably over the past 20 years and it is positive news that the current blindness rate in the country is 1%, the minister said.
He advised the concerned authorities, especially National Eye Care to keep focus on eye services for delivering the services to the doorsteps of the people.
Director of National Eye Science Institute & Hospital, Professor Dr Golam Mostofa presided over the seminar.
Senior Health Secretary Lokman Hossain Mia and Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) ABM Khurshid Alam were present on the occasion.
No Covid lockdown right now in Bangladesh: Health Minister
Bangladesh has taken all precautions against new coronavirus variant, Omicron, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Sunday ruling out any further Covid-induced lockdown in the country
“The Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh is under control now and there is no possibility to enforce any lockdown in the country,” he told reporters after visiting the under-construction Bangladesh Institute of Health Management Building (BIHM) in Savar.
He said the government is keeping eye on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) decisions on the Omicron variant but above all the precautions and preparations people will need to follow the health protocols, he said.
He, however, said that the government does not see any need for sealing the land border of the country as yet.
Read:Don’t leave your workplaces: Health Minister to expats
“Already letters have been sent to all the districts to take up preparations to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant, “he said.
Zahid said there is no need to worry about the new coronavirus variant Omicron which has no presence in the country.
“Any one coming from South Africa or other Omicron-affected countries will need to possess negative certificate from tests 48 hours before the flight and will need to stay in mandatory quarantine for 14 days, “he said.
Screening at airports has been increased and the Covid-19 testing labs have been expanded up to 30,000 square feet from 2,000, he said.
He said Bangladesh has now enough stock of vaccines and preparation to face any situation.
“Already more than seven crore people have received the first dose while around four crore have been fully vaccinated,” he said.
“Like many other countries, we got the prime minister’s nod to administer the booster dose of Covid-19 vaccines, and soon it will be provided to the above-60 citizens,” he said.
We are keeping eye on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) decisions on the Omicron variant but above all the precautions and preparations people will need to be more health aware, said the health minister