UNB :
Bangladesh registered 30 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours until Tuesday morning, pushing up the total fatalities to 12,211.
Besides, 1,272 new cases were detected during the period after testing 16,855 samples, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
The daily infection rate rose to 7.55 percent from Monday’s 6.75 percent.
With the new cases, the total caseload reached 7,28,129 while the total number of recoveries stood at 7,24,209, including 1,115 in the last 24 hours.
Now the recovery rate stands at 92.59 percent.
The country has so far carried out 57,34,918 sample tests since reporting its first cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
Bangladesh has been seeing below 50 daily deaths from May 9 and the number stayed mostly below 60 from the beginning of May. The country experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases in April, recording its highest single-day cases of 7,626 on April 7. It witnessed over 100 deaths during April 16-19 and on April 25.
The second dose of Covid-19 vaccine will run out within seven to ten days, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Monday. Five lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine, donated by China, arrived in Dhaka last week.
The vaccine will be given to those who need it most, said the minister. Administering of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine will begin later this month, he said.
“We talked to the US, China, Russia and the UK and some progress has been made. Hopefully you will get good news soon. As per contracts, we’ve got only seven million doses out of 30 million. We’re also worried about the second dose,” he added.
The United States has said it is actively considering the request made by Bangladesh over the supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses to meet the country’s immediate needs.
Bangladesh will get a reply of the letter, sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, within the next couple of days, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Monday after his meeting with US Ambassador Earl Miller.
Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday, the United States will send an additional 20 million doses of US-approved Covid-19 vaccines overseas, reported AP.
The additional doses will put to 80 million the United States will provide to other countries by the end of June.
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, no one received the first dose of the vaccine while 64,377 have received the second dose, said the health directorate.
