Tag Archives: COVID-19

MNA Editorial Desk: COVID-19 pandemic is still a life threatening issue around the world, including Bangladesh. For around 6-8 months, varying in different countries, the whole world is passing an appalling time. The pandemic is affecting lives in different ways – economically, financially, physically, mentally etc. The lockdowns have been lifted off at most of the places and most of the institutions; even public places have been opened. People are moving out of their safe shelters for different reasons and the life is coping up with the concept of ‘new normal’. But, apparently COVID-19 might have most negatively influenced the ...

MNA International Desk: National Intellectual Property Administration has granted the China’s first patent for a COVID-19 vaccine. The patent was jointly applied for by a research team with the Academy of Military Sciences and CanSino Biologics Inc., a Chinese high-tech biopharmaceutical company, said a report in People’s Daily. The team led by Chen Wei, a researcher at the Institute of Military Medicine under the academy, developed the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine, with the modified defective adenovirus as the vector. In March, the vaccine became the first in China to be approved to enter clinical trials. According to the patent abstract, the ...

MNA National Desk: Claiming that the number of coronavirus patients is decreasing, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said that some more Covid-19 dedicated hospitals would be made non-Covid-19 by the end of this month. The Health Minister said this to reporters after a meeting on the progress of the project on setting up cancer hospitals at eight divisional levels at the secretariat on Thursday. “We are a bit behind because of Covid-19. We have not been able to work for the last six to seven months. Now we have started working on the non-communicable diseases,” he added. The ...

MNA International Desk: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a Covid-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move hailed by Moscow as evidence of its scientific prowess. The development paves the way for the mass inoculation of the Russian population, even as the final stage of clinical trials to test safety and efficacy continue. The speed at which Russia is moving to roll out its vaccine highlights its determination to win the global race for an effective product, but has stirred ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Covid-19 has appeared and remained as a great threat for almost all economies of the world including that of Bangladesh. At the very beginning of this pandemic, Bangladesh was also hit by the deadly cyclone ‘Amphan’ and now is going through a lengthy flood. Though the economy is still holding up, the troubles are huge. We cannot accurately predict how the world economy will perform in the upcoming months and that requires us to safeguard our own economy focusing on internal factors mostly. Hence, we need to put emphasize on few areas immediately. In the current context, ...

MNA National Desk: Bangladesh today recorded 30 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths and 1,356 fresh cases overnight. The recovery count rose to 137,905 after another 1066 patients were discharged from the hospitals during the period, a top health official said. “Thirty more COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours, increasing the death toll from the pandemic to 3,184,” Additional Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana told a virtual media briefing at DGHS in the city this afternoon. She said the tally of infections has surged to 242,102 as 1,356 new cases were confirmed in ...

MNA International Desk: Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has tested positive for coronavirus, the minister tweeted on Sunday afternoon. He said he is getting admitted to a hospital on doctors’ advice. “On getting the initial symptoms of corona, I got the test done and the report came back positive. My health is fine, but I am being admitted to the hospital on the advice of doctors,” tweeted Shah. The home minister also requested those who had come in his contact to isolate themselves and get tested. Mr. Shah’s positive report came on a day when Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kamla ...

MNA Business Desk: Emirates customers can travel with confidence, as the airline will cover medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 and quarantine costs of EUR 100 per day for 14 days, should they be diagnosed with Covid-19 during their travel, while they are away from home. This cover is provided by the airline, free of cost to its customers. Emirates is the first airline in the world to offer free, global cover for Covid-19 related costs, according to a media release. The cover for Covid-19 related medical expenses and quarantine costs is offered by Emirates free of cost to ...

MNA National Desk: Health Services Division Secretary Abdul Mannan today said Bangladesh would be among the first to get any Covid-19 vaccine developed in any country across the world. “First of all, Bangladesh will get the vaccine free of cost,” Mannan said addressing a special meeting with the National Technical Advisory Committee to tackle the outbreak of coronavirus held at the secretariat in Dhaka this noon. Mannan said many countries, including the US and China, are on the verge of developing the Covid-19 vaccine, reports UNB. Countries with a per capita income of less than 4,000 dollars will get the ...

MNA Editorial Desk: A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and trains the immune system, reports BBC. Trials involving 1,077 people showed the injection led to them making antibodies and white blood cells that can fight coronavirus. The findings are hugely promising, but it is still too soon to know if this is enough to offer protection and larger trials are under way. The UK has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine. The vaccine – called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – is being developed at unprecedented speed. It is made from a genetically engineered virus that ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC) on Sunday approved the icddr,b to conduct the phase-3 human trial of Covid-19 vaccine developed by a Chinese company. “The approval to conduct the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Chinese company Sinovac Research and Development Co Ltd, will be informed formally within two to three days,” BMRC Director Dr Mahmood-uz-Jahan told media. About a month ago, icddr,b applied to BMRC for permission to conduct Covid-19 vaccine’s phase-3 clinical trial in Bangladesh, he said adding that their application has been approved on Sunday. “We went through their application and reviewed ...

MNA National Desk: All international passengers from Bangladesh will have to show COVID-19 negative certificates from 16 institutes, recommended by the government, at the airports before leaving the country. The decision will be implemented from July 23, according to a circular issued by Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) on Saturday. The 16 government-listed COVID testing facilities are: National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre, Institute of Public Health, and National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine in Dhaka; Sher E Bangla Medical College, Barisal, Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Chattagram, Cox’s Bazar Medical College (IEDCR Field Laboratory), ...

MNA National Desk: Death toll from the novel coronavirus has surged past 2,500-mark in Bangladesh as the country reported 51 more fatalities in the last 24 hours to 8:00am on Friday. With the latest, Covid-19 death toll in the country now stands at 2,547. The health directorate also registered 3,034 fresh infections during the 24-hour period, pushing the total case count to 199,357. Additional Director General (Admin) of DGHS Dr Nasima Sultana presented the latest figures while briefing the media live on the daily Covid-19 bulletin at 2:30pm today. The fresh coronavirus infections were found after testing 13,460 samples across ...

MNA International Desk: Health experts put Tokyo on the highest alert for coronavirus infections on Wednesday, alarmed by a recent spike in cases to record levels, while the governor of the Japanese capital said the situation was “rather severe”. The resurgence of the virus in Tokyo could add to the growing pressure on policymakers to shore up the world’s third economy, which analysts say is set to shrink at its fastest pace in decades this fiscal year due to the pandemic. “It is a fact that the number of patients is going up quite a bit and exceeding peaks,” said ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Although 4,998 people tested positive for coronavirus from March 8 to April 25, only 113 of them or 2.26 per cent, recovered during the period, showing one of the lowest recovery rates in the world. Health experts have attributed this to a lengthy recovery period of the disease, lower follow-up tests, weakened immune system of elderly and other people with underlying health conditions and mismanagement in treatment. Talking to UNB, IEDCR Director Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Kanak Kanti Barua and Dhaka Medical College Prof Khan Abul Kalam Azad said ...

MNA Business Desk: The first one month of the ongoing lockdown that ends today (Sunday) has already affected the country’s economy seriously. The Health Economics Department estimates the loss during the first one month at over Tk.1.0 trillion. However, relevant other government agencies are yet to make their assessment. Until Saturday, a total of 140 people died of coronavirus infection and 4,998 others tested positive in 60 districts, according to official estimate. And there are debates in different circles on the issue of reopening of different sectors to ‘save the economy’ from further damage. But when asked the billion-dollar question ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Coronavirus has spread throughout the world within a very short time. It has come out as a strike on humanity. The whole world is fighting this deadly pandemic. But it is hard to say, at which stage we are standing right now. Till now more than 2.3 million people got affected while over 0.16 million lost their lives worldwide. The scenario in Bangladesh is just getting worse day by day as till now 101 lives were lost while 2,948 became victims of this pandemic. Not only on human lives but also on every aspect of our society, ...

MNA Business Desk: The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) fallout has turned alarming across the world. According to the United Nations (UN), the coronavirus spread-out will significantly increase global unemployment and underemployment. This may leave up to 25 million more people out of jobs across the world. And this will dramatically slash global workers’ incomes. In a fresh study, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that economic and labour crises sparked by the spread of the new coronavirus will have far-reaching impacts on labour market outcomes. The virus has killed more than 165,000 people worldwide and the numbers are increasing as ...

MNA Editorial Desk: The whole of Bangladesh is at risk of coronavirus infection now that COVID-19 patients have been detected in 43 of the 64 districts, the Directorate General of Health Services has said. The authorities put 28 districts on lockdown until Thursday evening as the daily rate of known infections and the death toll continued to jump. The whole of Bangladesh is at risk of coronavirus infection now that COVID-19 patients have been detected in 43 of the 64 districts, the Directorate General of Health Services has said. Abul Kalam Azad, director general of health services, made the announcement ...

MNA International Desk: Europe is in eye of the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of cases nearing a million, and should move with extreme caution when considering easing lockdowns, the World Health Organisation’s regional director said on Thursday, reports Reuters. “Case numbers across the region continue to climb. In the past 10 days, the number of cases reported in Europe has nearly doubled to close to 1 million,” the WHO’s European director, Hans Kluge, told reporters in an online briefing. This meant that about 50 per cent of the global burden of COVID-19 was in Europe, Kluge ...

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 International Desk: United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called on the religious leaders of all faiths to join forces to work for peace around the world and focus on the common battle to defeat the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). He came up with the call in a “special message” at a time on the spiritual calendar when Christians are celebrating Easter, Jews are marking Passover and Muslims will soon begin the holy month of Ramadan. Extending his warmest wishes to all those observing these important moments, he said, “We have always known these occasions to be moments of community.” ...

MNA International Desk: Images have emerged of coffins being buried in a mass grave in New York City, as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak continues to rise. Workers in hazmat outfits were seen using a ladder to descend into a huge pit where the coffins were stacked, reports BBC. The location is Hart Island, used for New Yorkers with no next of kin or who could not afford a funeral. New York state now has more coronavirus cases than any single country, according to latest figures. The state’s confirmed caseload of Covid-19 jumped by 10,000 on Thursday to ...

MNA Business Desk: Global trade may fall by between 13.0 per cent and 32.0 per cent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world, projects the World Trade Organization (WTO). It also observed that a recovery in trade in 2021 is expected, but dependent on the duration of the outbreak and the effectiveness of the policy responses. “This crisis is first and foremost a health crisis which has forced governments to take unprecedented measures to protect people’s lives,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said while releasing the forecast on Wednesday in Geneva. “The unavoidable ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Just as we speak, the recent global crisis of COVID-19 virus outbreak has claimed over 70,000 lives while over 1.4 million are infected worldwide. With terrific modernization and development of technology such as artificial intelligence, we could not yet find out a solid tool to fight against this deadly nature-caused virus and has to only depend on symptomatic treatment till now. Moreover, an incredible economic depression seems to be arriving immediately with next few weeks. Till now 12 people died and 123 were infected in Bangladesh also and it is expected to dangerously increase within the next ...

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 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. ...