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MNA Editorial Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for a collective effort to fight the COVID-19 epidemic in her address to the nation on the eve of the Bengali New Year amid the shutdown imposed by the government to limit the spread of the coronavirus. “Darkness is engulfing our world because of the coronavirus. We shall overcome this and journey through to a new sunlit day,” Hasina said, calling for a collective resolve to fight the epidemic, reports bdnews24.com. The prime minister’s televised speech came on Monday amid a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. Five more patients died ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Low-income people of the country are suffering great losses in their earnings since the enforcement of social distancing and lockdowns to fight the novel coronavirus. Extreme poverty has risen 60 percentage points than before, while 14 per cent people do not have any food at home. On the other hand, 36 per cent people do not have any clear idea about the measures to be taken to prevent COVID-19. Most of them do not have any idea about the message that one should not directly go to any health facility with the symptoms of infection (fever, cough and breathing ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Abdul Mazed, the death row killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has sought mercy from President Md Abdul Hamid. The jail authorities sent the former army captain’s mercy petition to the home ministry, Additional Inspector General of Prisons Col Md Abrar Hossain told bdnews24.com on Wednesday evening. “We are waiting for the next order. We are ready to execute whatever order we get,” he added. Earlier in the day, a Dhaka court issued a death warrant against Mazed, opening the way for his execution. The jail authorities read out the death warrant to him at the Dhaka ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Foreign minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said Bangladesh is keep contact with the countries which want to send back undocumented Bangladeshi workers due to job cut amid deadly COVID-19 pandemic. “We are maintaining communications with those countries and urged them to extend their support to our expatriate nationals in the prevailing situation,” Momen told newsmen after holding an inter-ministerial meeting at the Expatriate Welfare Ministry in the capital on Sunday, reports BSS. Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad was also present at the meeting. Without disclosing names of the countries, the foreign minister said ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Bangladesh Army personnel have strengthened their patrolling in the capital Dhaka, other metropolitan cities and district towns to ensure home quarantine of people to prevent coronavirus infection in the country. They are also insisting people to maintain social distancing visiting different areas and bazars. In cooperation with the civil administration, the members of the law enforcing agencies have been working on the ground to limit the movement of people though people are still coming out of their houses ignoring the directives of the government. Such movements of people are increasing the risks of coronavirus infection, said experts. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his Sandoz generics unit’s malaria, lupus and arthritis drug hydroxychloroquine is the company’s biggest hope against the coronavirus, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. Novartis has pledged to donate 130 million doses and is supporting clinical trials needed before the medicine, which US President Donald Trump also has been promoting, can be approved for use against the coronavirus, reports Reuters. Other companies including Bayer and Teva have also agreed to donate hydroxychloroquine or similar drugs, while Gilead Sciences is testing its experimental drug remdesivir against coronavirus. “Pre-clinical studies in animals as ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The spread of the novel coronavirus has left the vulnerable and marginalised in grave peril as daily wage earners, people displaced by conflict, health workers and prisoners face huge risks in the face of this calamity. The pandemic is poised to break into thousands of cases in South Asia as more governments across the region this week imposed strict lockdowns and curfews amid fears the virus will strike densely populated areas, overwhelming woefully inadequate healthcare facilities and devastating livelihoods across a region where more than 600 million people already live in poverty, reports bdnews24.com citing an Amnesty ...

MNA Editorial Desk: BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was released from jail for six months following an executive order, reached her Gulshan residence, ‘Firoza’, on Wednesday afternoon after two years, one month and 16 days. After walking out of the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) where she has been undergoing treatment since April 1 last year, Khaleda started for her Gulshan residence around 4:20 pm. Though the roads were almost empty, it took her nearly an hour to reach Firoza as huge party leaders and activists escorted the vehicle carrying her up to Karwanbazar. The government ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Another person has died from coronavirus in Bangladesh, taking the total death toll to four, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR). Besides, five more people have been diagnosed with coronavirus as the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country has increased to 38. IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora revealed the latest coronavirus figures at a press briefing through online on Tuesday. The dead person was around 70 years old who had been receiving treatment for the last few days, UNB reported. The global death toll from coronavirus or Covid-19 reached ...

MNA Editorial Desk: All government and private offices and courts will be closed from March 26 to April 4 to contain the spread of coronavirus, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam announced on Monday. The shutdown will not affect emergency services. Hospitals will be open Public transport will operate on a limited scale during the closure. Already 33 people were affected from COVID-19 virus and 5 people were declared dead. Amid this urgent pandemic scenario which has led many countries of the world to impose lockdown, the Bangladesh government has taken this decision. People all around Bangladesh is under the panic ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Islamic Foundation has urged all Muslims to say Shab-e-Meraj prayers at home in view of the threat of the coronavirus. The event will be observed across the country on Sunday night. On the occasion, Muslims around the world offer special prayers all night in mosques and homes seeking blessings of Allah for the welfare of the entire nation and the Muslim Ummah, bdnews24.com reports. “We have asked everyone who goes to mosques to offer prayers five times a day to perform ablution and Sunnah prayers at home and then head to the mosques to offer Fard ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has reached an unprecedented agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to mobilise ICC private sector network to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, ICC and the WHO issued a joint statement on Wednesday outlining key elements, which include: disseminating the latest and expert advice to businesses, forging collaboration between the private sector, UN and WHO country teams; and providing business insights to help international COVID19 crisis management efforts. Meanwhile, ICC Chair Paul Polman and Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO have written an open letter to the Saudi ...

MNA Editorial Desk: US researchers gave the first shots in a first test of an experimental coronavirus vaccine Monday, leading off a worldwide hunt for protection even as the pandemic surges. With careful jabs in the arms of four healthy volunteers, scientists at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle began an anxiously awaited first-stage study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed in record time after the new virus exploded out of China and fanned out across the globe. “We’re team coronavirus now,” Kaiser Permanente study leader Dr Lisa Jackson said on the eve of the experiment. “Everyone wants ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The government has announced a 14-day mandatory quarantine for any person arriving in Bangladesh from abroad as coronavirus cases rose in the country. The order was issued from the cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Monday, said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, report bdnews24.com and UNB. “Whoever arrives from overseas must undergo a compulsory 14-day quarantine. There’s no exemption to it,” he said. “Otherwise, the returnees will face legal action,” the cabinet secretary added. Bangladesh on Monday announced the detection of three new coronavirus patients and confirmed that the virus has ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s proposal on strategies to battle coronavirus in SAARC region and said will look forward to a constructive dialogue with other heads of states of the region as well. “I hope this conference will show a new path to all of us in tackling the coronavirus,” added Sheikh Hasina. She also said the health ministers and secretaries can also have a similar conference to discuss the technicalities of the response to the coronavirus. Hasina made the remarks at a video conference with SAARC member countries to chalk out ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Countries around the world on Saturday continued to close borders, impose strict entry and quarantine requirements and restrict large gatherings in efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, reports Reuters. Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said it will close all its retail stores worldwide, outside Greater China, until March 27. Apple reopened all 42 of its branded stores in China on Friday as the spread of the virus on mainland China slowed dramatically. Countries have shuttered museums, tourist attractions and sporting events to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission, with more than 138,000 people worldwide infected and ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Noting that the government is making its best efforts to fight coronavirus, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday urged the people of the country to properly follow the awareness-raising instructions over the virus. “We’ve been trying our best to resist Covid-19 or Coronavirus… the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) is regularly providing instructions to raise awareness over the virus. All will have to follow these instructions regarding awareness,” she said while addressing a function at her official residence Ganobhaban. The Prime Minister said this inaugurating the countrywide cleanup campaign under the ‘Clean Village-Clean Town’ ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The government has allocated Tk 500 million for health services to prevent the spread of coronavirus after the detection of the first cases in Bangladesh. The finance ministry informed the Directorate General of Health Services about the allocation on Wednesday in response to the directorate’s request for Tk 1 billion. The money from the fund set aside for unexpected expenditure management in the revised budget of 2019-20 will be used to launch or extend coronavirus-related health services. Most of the fund, over Tk 455 million, is for purchase of equipment. The rest will be used to raise ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Country’s state-run disease monitoring wing Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR) has requested elderly people, along with foreign returnees, to maintain self-quarantine as it the most viable way to remain safe from coronavirus disease, COVID-19. IEDCR Director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora came up with the statement at a press briefing at the auditorium of the institute in city’s Mohakhali area. IEDCR’s Principal Scientific Officer Dr ASM Alamgir was present at the briefing. Dr Flora said no new coronavirus case found in the country after confirming the initial three, and they (the affected persons) too are ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Biman Bangladesh Airlines has reduced its international flight frequency to more than 50 per cent due to passenger’s scarcity as well as ban on flight operation in some destinations for global outbreak of novel coronavirus. “We have decided to reduce our total weekly flight (to and from) to 68 from 142 in our 10 international destinations due to mainly passenger’s scarcity amid the outbreak of coronavirus,” Biman’s managing director and CEO Mokabbir Hossain told newsmen on Monday in the capital. The national flag carrier operates international flights to Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bangkok, Singapore, ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has confirmed three coronavirus cases for the first time in Bangladesh. IEDCR Director Professor Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora gave the information at a press briefing on Sunday, reports bdnews24.com. “Two men and a woman, aged between 20 and 35 years, have tested positive for the virus and they have been kept in quarantine,” the IEDCR director said. “Their condition is stable now,” she added. Among the three infected people, two returned from Italy recently, according to the government’s disease control agency. Samples from four people who came in ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Twenty-one people aboard a cruise ship that was barred from docking in San Francisco have tested positive for coronavirus, US officials said on Friday, adding to the more than 100,000 cases of the fast-spreading illness across the world. Vice president Mike Pence, recently appointed as the US government’s point man on the outbreak, said the cruise ship Grand Princess will be brought to an unspecified non-commercial port where all 2,400 some passengers and 1,100 crew members will now be tested. “Those that need to be quarantined, will be quarantined. Those that require additional medical attention will receive ...

MNA Editorial Desk: A separate hospital will be built in the country to control coronavirus outbreak if the number of patients rises at any place, informed the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research. “Isolation unit has been opened at the sadar hospitals in all districts for proving treatment to coronavrus patients. But, if the number of case rises anywhere, a separate hospital will be built there,” said IEDCR director Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora at a press briefing on Thursday. Informing that the situation in China is improving, she said the disease is spreading to other countries outside China. “Of ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Highlighting the “most extensive and integrated” relationship between the two countries, Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday reiterated that the NRC and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will have no impact on Bangladesh. “These are purely internal to India,” he said while delivering the keynote speech at a seminar on “Bangladesh and India: A Promising Future” at Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Bangladesh Institute for International Studies (BISS) hosted the event. Prime minister’s international affairs adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi spoke as the chief guest highlighting the relationship between the two countries, UNB reported. He laid emphasis ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has no citizenship certificate rather he is a citizen of that country by birth. Replying to a query by one Subhankar Sarkar, Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) provided him with the information, reports Anandabazar Patrika on Sunday. On January 17 this year, Subhankar sought information about the citizenship certificate through the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Replying to the query, Indian PMO Secretary Parveen Kumar informed him– “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a citizen of India by birth in terms of Section 3 of the Citizenship Act 1955, and as such the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has hiked retail electricity prices by Tk 0.36 or 5.3 per cent, from Tk 6.77 to Tk 7.13 per unit, making the new rate effective from March 01. The BERC announced the decision from a media briefing in Dhaka on Thursday after holding a public hearing on a proposed increase in bulk electricity tariff. Meanwhile, the BERC increased the wholesale prices of power by 8.4 per cent, from Tk 4.77 to Tk 5.17 per unit. The cost of power transmission or wheeling charge has also been increased by 5.3 per cent ...

MNA Editorial Desk: With his shaggy grey beard, rose-coloured robe and a prayer cap that extends his tall frame, shopkeeper Tariqul Islam is an imposing figure on the stall-lined street that serves up home comforts to Singapore’s Bangladeshi community. He stands out even more now many of his customers have left the country or been told to avoid crowds after a coronavirus outbreak infected some Bangladeshi construction workers, thinning out the normally bustling thoroughfare. Unease over the virus has gripped groups of migrant workers across Asia – who often live in crowded, cramped conditions – and their families thousands of ...