The government rolled out the countrywide mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7
The government has geared up its nationwide vaccination drive to inoculate 70-80% people against Covid-19 by March, next year, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Saturday.
“So far, 50 million people have been vaccinated as the countrywide campaign is underway. At least 50% of the population will be given the jabs by December and 70-80% by March next. We’ve already procured necessary vaccine shots,” the minister said.
Zahid Maleque also announced a program to bring children between 12-17 years of age under the vaccination drive soon.
He was speaking at a progam arranged by district Puja Celebration Council in Sadar upazila, marking Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community.
He urged the Hindu community to celebrate the festival maintaining health protocols.
On January 27, Prime Minister Hasina launched the Covid-19 vaccination programme at Kurmitola General Hospital through a videoconference.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque speaks at a program in Manikganj Sadar upazila on Saturday, October 9, 2021 | UNB
The government rolled out a countrywide mass Covid-19 vaccination drive on February 7 vaccinating people aged 55 and above in the first phase.
Covid situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged seven Covid-19 deaths, the lowest since March, in 24 hours till Friday morning, with 645 infections reported during this period.
The single-day daily death toll was the lowest since March 17 this year when the country recorded 11 Covid-related deaths.
The fresh cases were detected after 23,302 samples were tested, slightly decreasing the daily case positivity rate to 2.77% from Thursday’s 2.97%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With this, the daily case positivity rate in the country remained below 5% for the 15th consecutive day, which makes the country ready for mass unlocking.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the daily-case positivity rate remains at 5% or below for 14 days, it is considered safe for mass unlocking.
The latest additions took the country’s death toll to 27,654 and the total caseload to 1,561,463 until Friday morning.
So far, 15,22,591 people have also recovered from the deadly virus infection, the DGHS said.
Leave a Comment