Tag Archives: coronavirus

MNA Business Desk: The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) on Sunday welcomed the stimulus package of Tk 72,750 crore, declared by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to help mitigate the impact of cronoavirus on the national economy. In a quick note to media after the package was announced, FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim said the package is “targeted and focused”. He said the stimulus package would help all the sectors. “This stimulus package will be utilized in a targeted and focused way in micro, small, medium and larger enterprises, and in agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. Through ...

MNA International Desk: Mainland China reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, up from 19 a day earlier as the number of cases involving travellers from abroad as well as local transmissions increased, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the outbreak. The National Health Commission said in a statement on Sunday that 25 of the latest cases involved people who had entered from abroad, compared with 18 such cases a day earlier. Five new locally transmitted infections were also reported on Saturday, all in the southern coastal province of Guangdong, up from a day earlier. The mainland has now reported ...

MNA National Desk: Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has announced a total financial package of Tk 727.5 billion, including the previously announced Tk 50 billion, in efforts to face the possible impact of the coronavirus on the economy. She made the announcement during a briefing live on the government plan to overcome the possible impacts of the virus outbreak on the economy on Sunday morning. Since, of the total package, the Tk 50 billion was previously announced in late March, minus that, the newly announced part of the package is much larger Tk 677.5 billion. UNB adds: detailing the newly announced ...

MNA National Desk: Two more people tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases in the country to 56, the government announced Thursday. “In the past 24 hours, IEDCR has tested 141 samples and two people have been found positive,” officials told an online press briefing. On Wednesday, Bangladesh reported its sixth coronavirus death and three new cases. Meanwhile, the global death toll from COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus jumped to 47,232 on Thursday. It has so far infected 935,581 people around the world, according to worldometer. Of them, 693,073 are currently ...

MNA Business Desk: Finance ministers and central bank governors of the G20 member states has agreed on delivering a roadmap in response to the novel coronavirus. The ministers met on Tuesday through a virtual meeting following the Extraordinary G20 Leaders’ Summit held on March 26, a statement by the G20 Saudi secretariat said, reports Xinhua. They also discussed the role of the International Monetary Fund the World Bank Group and other international financial institutions to deploy all available resources and explore additional measures needed to support emerging markets and developing economies amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The measures include supporting financial ...

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 International Desk: Confirmed coronavirus cases approached one million around the world on Thursday as Europe reeled from the pandemic and the US prepared for what President Donald Trump warned would be “horrific” days ahead. The virus claimed thousands more lives in its relentless march across the globe, including nearly 1,000 new deaths in Spain, despite more than half of the planet subjected to some form of lockdown. And it continued to wreak havoc on the global economy, with Spain reporting its biggest monthly increase in jobless claims on record and the US expected to reveal more massive job losses. ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The whole world including our beloved Bangladesh is now in a great war with a natural curse named ‘COVID-19’ or commonly known as coronavirus. While healthcare providers and government officials around the world work to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate the effects of a resulting economic crisis, scientists urged authorities to also seriously consider a long-term strategy for preventing another infectious disease outbreak as they pointed out the coronavirus as a warning from the nature. Already more than 36,000 people around the world has lost their lives and over 7.5 lac people have ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the people not to worry and remain prepared to face any situation in the wake of the outbreak of coronavirus across the globe. “I’ll tell all that they shouldn’t worry, rather they’ll have to remain prepared for tackling any situation that has risen due to outbreak of the novel coronavirus,” she said. The prime minister came up with the statement while receiving donation for her relief and welfare fund from various government and private organisations through a videoconference from her official Ganabhaban residence in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon, reports BSS. ...

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 Business Desk: The coronavirus pandemic has hit hard the flow of aid from foreign donors who cleared 14 per cent less money in the eight months to February than the same period last fiscal year. The amount they pledged in the July-February period has almost halved year-on-year. The government had to repay 10 per cent more to the lenders than it had done during the same period last fiscal year. The pandemic started to hit Bangladesh’s development work in January, especially those involving experts from China and some other countries, Economic Relations Division secretary Fatima Yasmin told the news ...

MNA International Desk: Police fired tear gas at a crowd of Kenyan ferry commuters as the country’s first day of a coronavirus curfew slid into chaos. Elsewhere, officers were captured in mobile phone footage whacking people with batons. Virus prevention measures have taken a violent turn in parts of Africa as countries impose lockdowns and curfews or seal off major cities. Health experts say the virus’ spread, though still at an early stage on the continent, resembles that of Europe, adding to widespread anxiety. Cases across Africa were set to jump above 4,000 on Saturday, reports AP. Abuses of the ...

MNA NAtional Desk: The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Thursday confirmed five more coronavirus cases, taking the total to 44 in Bangladesh. The death toll from the disease has remained unchanged at five, IEDCR Director Meerjady Sabrina Flora said while revealing the latest coronavirus figures at an online media briefing this afternoon, report bdnews24.com and UNB. However, four more patients have recovered from the disease. With this, a total of 11 people have already made recovery from the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the global death toll from the coronavirus has leapt to 21,283 globally as of Thursday. It ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced a Tk 50.0 billion stimulus package for export-oriented sectors to pay wages to the workers amid the crisis of coronavirus outbreak. “The fund can be used only for paying wages and allowances to the workers and other employees,” the prime minister said in her televised address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day, reports bdnews24.com. “Our production and exports can be impacted. Therefore, we took some emergency measures,” said Hasina. Bangladesh Bank already took some business-friendly initiatives, including the decision not to declare any customer a loan defaulter until ...

MNA International Desk: Indians crowded grocery stores and chemists on Wednesday in a struggle for essential items after prime minister Narendra Modi ordered a total lockdown for three weeks to fight a coronavirus pandemic, one of the toughest such measures worldwide. India’s tally of 536 cases and 10 deaths is dwarfed by China, Italy and Spain, but Modi and health experts have warned that the nation of 1.3 billion people faces a tidal wave of infections if harsh steps are not taken. People in the key cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru rushed to stock up after Modi decreed the ...

MNA National Desk: The government shut down all passenger train services, except freight trains, from Tuesday to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Bangladesh. Railway Minister Nurul Islam made the announcement in a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon, report bdnews24.com and UNB. Meanwhile, according to UNB, Bangladesh Railway Director General Shamsuzzaman, “The services will remain closed until further notice,” he said, adding that intercity train services will be shut down gradually. Bangladesh government on Monday declared general holidays from March 26 to April 4, aiming to prevent its transmission. Besides, the armed forces will remain in the field in the ...

MNA International Desk: Myanmar reported its first confirmed cases of coronavirus in two men who had recently travelled to the United States and the United Kingdom. The Southeast Asian nation had been the most populous country in the world to say it had no cases, despite sharing a long and porous border with China, where the virus originated in the city of Wuhan. The health ministry said a 36-year-old travelling from the United States and 26-year-old returning from Britain, both Myanmar nationals, had tested positive. “Investigation is ongoing on history of people who have been in contact with these two ...

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 Business Desk: Industry leaders do not want to shut down factories as a measure to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, so they are waiting for government directives on workers and factories. On Monday, the government declared the shutdown of all government and private offices and courts from March 26 to April 04 amid mounting fears of the coronavirus that infected 33 people and killed three in Bangladesh. The workers are flooding out of cities towards their homes after the announcement. Whether this will fuel the spread of the virus has been brought into question. Some owners said ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The global coronavirus crisis has taken a leap into the lives of all the people in the world as already 189 countries of the world has been affected. Around 0.35 million people are officially affected by this deadly COVID-19 virus while around 15,000 already lost their lives and the scenario is expected to go worse. According to experts, millions of lives will be lost within the next few months. Bangladesh is also facing this crisis. It is hard to concretely tell how many people are already contaminated by this virus and how many actually died. Bangladesh is ...

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 International Desk: The United Nations will create a fund to support the treatment of coronavirus patients worldwide, Norway’s foreign ministry said on Monday. “A multi-donor fund under UN auspices will provide predictability for our partners and help to make the efforts more effective,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said in a statement, reports Reuters. The purpose of the fund is to assist developing countries with weak health systems in addressing the crisis as well as to tackle the long-term consequences, the ministry added. A formal announcement could be made later this week, it said. Almost 340,000 people have ...

MNA National Desk: The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) authorities on Sunday directed to close all restaurants, hotels, tea stalls, bakery, confessionary, and roadside food carts following growing concern over a potential coronavirus outbreak in the country. These establishments will remain closed until further notice, DSCC said in a mass notification. However, hospitals, clinics, primary health service, medical stores, ATM booths, fruits stores, mobile recharge shops, and kitchen markets will remain open as usual, UNB reported. Legal action will be taken against anyone violating the directive, the notification said. Bangladesh on Saturday announced the second coronavirus death and detection of ...

MNA International Desk: The Spanish government said on Saturday it would do whatever was needed to combat the coronavirus pandemic and warned that “the worst is yet to come” after the national toll surpassed 1,300 deaths and reached close to 25,000 cases. The second-worst outbreak in Europe showed no sign of slowing as the death toll jumped by more than 300 from the previous day. Intensive care units are filling up in some hospitals. “We have yet to receive the impact of the strongest, most damaging wave, which will test our material and moral capacities to the limit, as well ...

MNA Business Desk: Cargo handling at the Petrapole port on the India-Bangladesh border came to a halt on Sunday after India launched a 14-hour curfew to limit the fast-spreading coronavirus epidemic in the country, where 315 people have so far been found to have contracted the disease. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an address to the nation last week urged citizens to stay indoors, a move that he said would be a crucial test for a country to assess its abilities to fight the pandemic. “There’s a ‘people’s curfew’ going on across India from 7 am to 9 pm on ...

MNA International Desk: Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that mosques would no longer be open for the customary five daily prayers or Friday congregations, an exceptional move to limit the spread of the coronavirus which has infected 171 people in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia, which chairs the Group of 20 major economies, announced an extraordinary virtual leaders summit next week “to put forward a coordinated set of policies to protect people and safeguard the global economy.” The US-allied Gulf Arab states have registered more than 1,000 infections, many linked to travel to neighbouring Iran, which is an epicentre for the ...

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 ...