WEB DESK
Bangladesh reported 40 deaths and 1675 new cases of Coronavirus in the country on Tuesday. The number of deaths on Tuesday is the highest since May 12 when an equal number of deaths was reported. The sample positivity rate also crossed 10 percent after remaining lower for almost the entire month of May except on May 14 when it was reported to be 10.82 percent. The number of deaths due to Covid in the country has gone up to 12,441 and the total number of people infected by the virus is over 7.92 lakh.
Earlier, on Monday, border district Chapainawabganj was put under a strict 7 day lockdown till May 30 after the sample positivity rate was reported to be very high at over 55 percent.
A few cases of the ‘black fungus’ infection have also been reported from Bangladesh. Health Minister Zahid Maleque told the media on Tuesday that necessary steps are being taken to deal with black fungus after a few cases were detected in the country. He said pharmaceutical companies have been asked to increase the production of medicines to treat the black fungus infection.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen told the media on Tuesday that Bangladesh is in the process of procuring 15 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. The first consignment of 5 million doses is expected to arrive in June, said Dr. Momen.
Talking about other sources of COVID 19 vaccine, Foreign Minister Dr. Momen said that Bangladesh has also approved another Chinese vaccine Sinovac for emergency use. He said that discussion with Russia is also in the final stages. The COVAX facility of WHO will also provide vaccines for Bangladesh and there will not be a shortage of vaccine supply in the coming days, said Dr. Momen.