Over 200 Covid deaths for 10 consecutive days

As the delta variant continues to take a toll on the country, 235 more people died of the virus in the past 24 hours until Tuesday 8am.

This is the 10th day in a row that the country reported over 200 single-day deaths.

Bangladesh also reported more than 15,000 infections for the second day with 15,776 people contracting the virus in the 24 hours.

The positivity rate saw a slight slope dropping at 28.54%, down from 29.91% a day ago as the health officials tested the highest ever 55,284 samples across the country.

With the latest figures, the death toll stands at 21,397 and the case tally increased to 12,96,093.

Chattogram division has been witnessing a rise in deaths over the week as 65 deaths were reported there following the highest 73 deaths in Dhaka.

Besides, 32 people died in Khulna, 21 in Rajshahi, 12 each in Rangpur, Sylhet and Mymensingh, and eight died in the Barishal division.

Indian Covaxin to be permitted for trial in Bangladesh

Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, invented by Indian company Bharat Biotech, is going to get approval for a clinical trial in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Medical and Research Council has set some conditions in response to the request for the trial. If these conditions are met, Bharat Biotech will soon get approval for a human trial in Bangladesh, Professor Dr Ruhul Amin, Director, Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC), told The Business Standard on Tuesday.

"The conditions are easy. There were a few mistakes in the application and we sent a letter to them in the third week of July saying that we will approve it if those are corrected. We have not received any reply yet," he said.

After the approval of BMRC, approval from the Department of Drug Administration is required to bring the vaccine sample to Bangladesh before the trial starts, he added.

Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Scientific Research have jointly developed Covaxin which was approved for emergency use in India last January. Subsequently, an application was made to the government of Bangladesh in mid-January to conduct a clinical trial of the vaccine in Bangladesh.

Bharat Biotech will implement this vaccine experimentally in Bangladesh through icddr,b.

6.16 lakh AstraZeneca jabs arrive from Japan

The third consignment of Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs has arrived in Dhaka from Japan.

The shipment contains 6,16,760 shots of the vaccine, Maidul Islam Pradhan, senior information officer at the ministry of health confirmed the news to the media.

A freight of Cathay Pacific landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3.15pm on Tuesday.

With the latest supplies, the total amount of vaccines from Japan stands at 16,43,300.

This delivery is a part of Japan's commitment to supplying over 3.0 million doses of vaccine under the WHO-Covax initiative.