Complete lockdown in Chapainawabganj

Chapainawabganj district administration has declared a complete lockdown following a deterioration in the Covid-19 situation in the district.

The lockdown will come into effect from Monday midnight and will continue till 30 May.

Only the emergency services will be exempted from the all-out restrictions during this lockdown.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in the district is over 55% while the overall infection rate in the country is 8%.

Confirmingthe matter to The Business Standard (TBS), Chapainawabganj Civil Surgeon ZahidNazrul Chowdhury said, "By far, 1,291 people have been tested Covid-19 positive in the district."

"The daily infection rate has hit as high as 55% here and 52 out of 95 samples on Saturday have been tested positive," he added.

Regarding the presence of Indian variant among the collected samples, the civil surgeon said, "We can only be confirmed about it after receiving the virus genome sequencing report for the samples sent to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR)."

On 19 May, samples of 42 Covid-19 patients, who had returned from India, were collected and sent to the IEDCR.

Reportedly, the number of Covid-19 patients from Chapainawabganj is increasing every day at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Dr SaifulFerdous, deputy director of the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, told TBS, "The number of Covid-19 patients in our hospital is increasing every day, and most of the patients are from Chapainawabganj.

"More people are coming from India illegally through the Sona Masjid border, which has led to an increase in the infection rate in Chapainawabganj. The situation will be dire if the Indian variant gets to spread in the country from the district," he added.

Dr Mohammad Mushtuq Hossain, an adviser of the IEDCR told TBS, "Infections are on the rise in Chapainawabganj, Satkhira, Khulna and other border areas. Although those who are coming to the country legally are quarantined. As those who are coming illegally are not being quarantined, causing to increase the infection."

Dr Mohammad Mushtuq Hossain said that due to the lockdown, the detection and positivity rate is low in Dhaka but the death toll is increasing in some areas outside Dhaka with an increase in detection. There is a risk of re-infection across the country as almost everything is open now, and we have to be careful so that it does not spread like a tsunami.

Bangladesh reported 25 more deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, taking the total death count to 12,401.

Meanwhile, 1,441 more people were infected with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, which took the case count to 7,90,521.

In the preceding 24 hours, the positivity rate was recorded at 8.15% after testing 17,683 samples in 486 labs across the country.

Chinese vaccine will be applied from Tuesday

The Sinopharm vaccination will be inaugurated by giving the first dose of the vaccine to 256 students of Dhaka Medical College at 11am on Tuesday. Health Minister ZahidMalek is expected to be the chief guest at the time.

Health department sources said vaccination would be suspended for a week to monitor side effects after 1,000 students receive their first dose from the 500,000 doses sent to Bangladesh by China on May 12.