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Coronavirus in Bangladesh
- Thread starter Lonewarrior
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sweep_shot
Test Captain
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- Mar 30, 2016
- Runs
- 48,728
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
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Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharmaceuticals will buy up to three million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Serum Institute of India at about $8 each for sale on the private market, Beximco’s chief operating officer told Reuters news agency.
The COO, Rabbur Reza, said that was about twice the price of around $4 that Beximco had agreed for separate supplies of five million doses a month, over the first half of the year, for the Bangladeshi government’s subsidised mass-vaccination programme.
Serum Institute will begin deliveries of the shot later this month, both those for state and private use, Reza told Reuters news on Tuesday. The vaccine is administered in two separate doses per patient, typically with weeks between them.
The delivery of the shots to India’s eastern neighbour, the world’s eighth-most populous country with more than 160 million people, comes as India tries to meet global demand for vaccines and bolster its reputation as a pharmaceutical powerhouse.
Private sales of the vaccine by Beximco could begin in Bangladesh next month, and at a retail price of about 1,125 taka ($13.27) per dose, Reza said. Currently, the company has a deal for one million doses that could be raised by another two million, he added.
The rates and deal details have not been previously reported.
Beximco, one of Bangladesh’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, is the exclusive distributor of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country.
Reza said Beximco had also had preliminary discussions with other Indian vaccine developers such as Biological E and Bharat Biotech, whose shot was approved this month by India as a backup to the one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University.
“As of now, our partner is Serum and we will continue with them, that’s our goal,” the COO said in a phone interview. “If the government wants more vaccines, we can discuss other vaccines too that Serum is working on – if the government wants something other than the AstraZeneca one.”
Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, plans to sell 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for 200 rupees ($2.73) each to the Indian government, and will charge slightly higher for subsequent purchases. India has already bought 11 million doses at that initial rate.
Serum wants to sell the shot for 1,000 rupees ($13.66) a dose on the private market, whenever that is allowed by New Delhi.
Though Beximco is initially paying $4 per dose for the vaccine for the Bangladeshi government programme, the price will eventually be adjusted to around the average rate the Indian government would pay Serum, Reza said.
Serum is bearing the cost of transporting the vaccines to the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from India.
Reza said Beximco has the option to buy additional volumes from Serum for the state vaccination programme than the currently agreed 30 million doses for the country, which has reported more than 523,000 COVID-19 cases and 7,800 deaths.
As a low-income country, Bangladesh will also get around 68 million doses of vaccines – possibly including the one developed by Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE – at a subsidised rate from global vaccine alliances.
Serum has partnered with British drugmaker AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to produce more than a billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for poorer countries.
The COO, Rabbur Reza, said that was about twice the price of around $4 that Beximco had agreed for separate supplies of five million doses a month, over the first half of the year, for the Bangladeshi government’s subsidised mass-vaccination programme.
Serum Institute will begin deliveries of the shot later this month, both those for state and private use, Reza told Reuters news on Tuesday. The vaccine is administered in two separate doses per patient, typically with weeks between them.
The delivery of the shots to India’s eastern neighbour, the world’s eighth-most populous country with more than 160 million people, comes as India tries to meet global demand for vaccines and bolster its reputation as a pharmaceutical powerhouse.
Private sales of the vaccine by Beximco could begin in Bangladesh next month, and at a retail price of about 1,125 taka ($13.27) per dose, Reza said. Currently, the company has a deal for one million doses that could be raised by another two million, he added.
The rates and deal details have not been previously reported.
Beximco, one of Bangladesh’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, is the exclusive distributor of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country.
Reza said Beximco had also had preliminary discussions with other Indian vaccine developers such as Biological E and Bharat Biotech, whose shot was approved this month by India as a backup to the one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University.
“As of now, our partner is Serum and we will continue with them, that’s our goal,” the COO said in a phone interview. “If the government wants more vaccines, we can discuss other vaccines too that Serum is working on – if the government wants something other than the AstraZeneca one.”
Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, plans to sell 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for 200 rupees ($2.73) each to the Indian government, and will charge slightly higher for subsequent purchases. India has already bought 11 million doses at that initial rate.
Serum wants to sell the shot for 1,000 rupees ($13.66) a dose on the private market, whenever that is allowed by New Delhi.
Though Beximco is initially paying $4 per dose for the vaccine for the Bangladeshi government programme, the price will eventually be adjusted to around the average rate the Indian government would pay Serum, Reza said.
Serum is bearing the cost of transporting the vaccines to the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from India.
Reza said Beximco has the option to buy additional volumes from Serum for the state vaccination programme than the currently agreed 30 million doses for the country, which has reported more than 523,000 COVID-19 cases and 7,800 deaths.
As a low-income country, Bangladesh will also get around 68 million doses of vaccines – possibly including the one developed by Pfizer Inc with partner BioNTech SE – at a subsidised rate from global vaccine alliances.
Serum has partnered with British drugmaker AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to produce more than a billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for poorer countries.
OMB
First Class Captain
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Runs
- 4,288
Covid-19: Crowds flee Dhaka ahead of strict Bangladesh lockdown
Crowds have flocked to Dhaka's ferry terminals for a second day to get out of the city before a strict national lockdown comes into force.
For seven days from Thursday, no one in Bangladesh will be allowed to leave their homes unless in an emergency.
As a result, people are fleeing the busy capital city for their homes in towns and villages.
Covid cases in the country have surged, many linked to the Delta variant first identified in neighbouring India.
The latest wave of the virus in Bangladesh began about six weeks ago. On 15 May there were 261 new cases and 22 deaths reported. On Friday there were 5,869 new cases and 108 deaths - the country's second-highest daily death toll of the whole pandemic.
Many hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and are struggling to cope, particularly those on the border with India.
The lockdown was originally due to begin on Monday, but has now been postponed until Thursday - though officials said some restrictions will still come into force on Monday.
Because of the sharp rise in cases, rail and bus services are already suspended, with an exception for emergency services.
People hoping to leave the city have resorted to hiring private hire vehicles, or even walking, because of the transport closures.
'Unmanageable' situation
Low-income workers and day labourers will be among the worst hit by the stringent lockdown, BBC South Asia editor Jill McGivering reports. Many of the people fleeing are migrant workers trying to get home.
Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported that there were thousands of people at just one ferry terminal, with little to no space between them.
Local traffic police chief Zakir Hossain told the paper that Shimulia terminal was much busier on Sunday than it was on Saturday, and that "no one is following Covid-19 safety protocols".
AFP news agency reports that tens of thousands of people in total are trying to leave. It quotes a senior Bangladesh water official saying that at least 50,000 people had left the city on ferries on Sunday alone.
The situation, he added, had become "unmanageable".
Some ferry services have been running 24 hours a day, with more than 1,000 passengers crammed onto each trip.
Police sub-inspector Mohammad Raza told AFP: "We don't want them to overcrowd the ferry, but they don't listen. There is a mad rush of people."
A statement released by Bangladesh's Press Information Department (PID) said all offices, including government, semi-government and private offices, would also shut in the lockdown.
Health department spokesman Robed Amin told AFP police and border guards would be deployed to enforce the lockdown and stop people from leaving their homes.
He added that the army could also be deployed if needed.
"It is a dangerous and alarming situation," he said. "If we don't contain it now, we will face an India-like situation."
A second wave of Covid infections, driven largely by the Delta variant, devastated India in April and May. Although the country is beginning to reopen, experts have warned it could see a third wave in the next few months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57624557
Crowds have flocked to Dhaka's ferry terminals for a second day to get out of the city before a strict national lockdown comes into force.
For seven days from Thursday, no one in Bangladesh will be allowed to leave their homes unless in an emergency.
As a result, people are fleeing the busy capital city for their homes in towns and villages.
Covid cases in the country have surged, many linked to the Delta variant first identified in neighbouring India.
The latest wave of the virus in Bangladesh began about six weeks ago. On 15 May there were 261 new cases and 22 deaths reported. On Friday there were 5,869 new cases and 108 deaths - the country's second-highest daily death toll of the whole pandemic.
Many hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and are struggling to cope, particularly those on the border with India.
The lockdown was originally due to begin on Monday, but has now been postponed until Thursday - though officials said some restrictions will still come into force on Monday.
Because of the sharp rise in cases, rail and bus services are already suspended, with an exception for emergency services.
People hoping to leave the city have resorted to hiring private hire vehicles, or even walking, because of the transport closures.
'Unmanageable' situation
Low-income workers and day labourers will be among the worst hit by the stringent lockdown, BBC South Asia editor Jill McGivering reports. Many of the people fleeing are migrant workers trying to get home.
Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported that there were thousands of people at just one ferry terminal, with little to no space between them.
Local traffic police chief Zakir Hossain told the paper that Shimulia terminal was much busier on Sunday than it was on Saturday, and that "no one is following Covid-19 safety protocols".
AFP news agency reports that tens of thousands of people in total are trying to leave. It quotes a senior Bangladesh water official saying that at least 50,000 people had left the city on ferries on Sunday alone.
The situation, he added, had become "unmanageable".
Some ferry services have been running 24 hours a day, with more than 1,000 passengers crammed onto each trip.
Police sub-inspector Mohammad Raza told AFP: "We don't want them to overcrowd the ferry, but they don't listen. There is a mad rush of people."
A statement released by Bangladesh's Press Information Department (PID) said all offices, including government, semi-government and private offices, would also shut in the lockdown.
Health department spokesman Robed Amin told AFP police and border guards would be deployed to enforce the lockdown and stop people from leaving their homes.
He added that the army could also be deployed if needed.
"It is a dangerous and alarming situation," he said. "If we don't contain it now, we will face an India-like situation."
A second wave of Covid infections, driven largely by the Delta variant, devastated India in April and May. Although the country is beginning to reopen, experts have warned it could see a third wave in the next few months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57624557
OMB
First Class Captain
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2010
- Runs
- 4,288
Bangladesh's COVID-19 Hotspot Gasps For Oxygen As Tough Lockdown Bites
Coronavirus: Bangladesh's government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna's hospitals cannot cope.
Khulna, Bangladesh: Empty oxygen cylinders are piling up almost as fast as bodies in the city of Khulna, which has become Bangladesh's coronavirus hotspot in a dire new surge.
The government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna's hospitals cannot cope.
Neither can relatives of the dead.
Mohammad Siddik leaned against empty cylinders under a hospital emergency porch, tearfully telling relatives in phone calls that his 50-year-old brother had died.
The 42-year-old businessman brought his brother to hospital as his condition deteriorated. But there was no bed and no oxygen, he told AFP.
"He passed away gasping for air in the hospital corridor," said Siddik.
"They didn't give him any oxygen until the end."
The southwestern district bordering India's West Bengal state has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India.
On Thursday, Khulna city recorded 46 virus deaths, according to an official count, while in earlier waves the daily death count never went into double figures.
Most people in the city of 680,000 people say the real toll is much higher and, according to reports, graveyards cannot cope with the number of dead in nearby cities such as Satkhira.
The main state-run Khulna general hospital is one of four in the city treating coronavirus patients and has 400 beds but demand far outstrips supply.
"We have been dealing with enormous admission pressure in hospitals," said Niaz Muhammad, chief government doctor for the Khulna region.
He denied there was an oxygen shortage.
'The situation is dire'
But another grieving relative also told how her brother had died without oxygen.
Afroza, who used only one name, shed tears in a hospital ward.
"If only they could have given a little oxygen to my brother, he would still be alive," she said.
Police and troops have patrolled the streets across Bangladesh, home to 168 million people, since Thursday to enforce the lockdown. Hundreds of people have been arrested each day for leaving their homes.
In Khulna, restrictions on movement have been in place since last month, as the infection rate has soared.
But the city's factories are still open and many people say they are forced to go out to work.
Student Rafikul Islam said he walked seven kilometres (four miles) to his part-time factory job as there were no buses.
"Most shops and transport are shut down. But given Khulna's serious situation, we must maintain this. There is no other way. The situation is dire," he said.
Officially, Bangladesh has recorded just over 935,000 cases and 14,900 deaths in the past 15 months, but most people say the figures are drastically under-reported.
Mohammad Babu, who works in a Khulna cemetery, said he has never been so busy in his 32 years digging graves.
"The number of burials this year is much higher than at any time in the past," he said.
Health officials blame the surge on people's refusal to wear masks or keep social distance.
"People cannot be bothered to isolate and this spreads the infection even more," said Suhas Halder, spokesperson for Khulna's main coronavirus hospital.
URL="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-bangladeshs-coronavirus-hotspot-gasps-for-air-as-tough-lockdown-bites-2478866"]https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-bangladeshs-coronavirus-hotspot-gasps-for-air-as-tough-lockdown-bites-2478866[/URL]
Coronavirus: Bangladesh's government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna's hospitals cannot cope.
Khulna, Bangladesh: Empty oxygen cylinders are piling up almost as fast as bodies in the city of Khulna, which has become Bangladesh's coronavirus hotspot in a dire new surge.
The government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna's hospitals cannot cope.
Neither can relatives of the dead.
Mohammad Siddik leaned against empty cylinders under a hospital emergency porch, tearfully telling relatives in phone calls that his 50-year-old brother had died.
The 42-year-old businessman brought his brother to hospital as his condition deteriorated. But there was no bed and no oxygen, he told AFP.
"He passed away gasping for air in the hospital corridor," said Siddik.
"They didn't give him any oxygen until the end."
The southwestern district bordering India's West Bengal state has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India.
On Thursday, Khulna city recorded 46 virus deaths, according to an official count, while in earlier waves the daily death count never went into double figures.
Most people in the city of 680,000 people say the real toll is much higher and, according to reports, graveyards cannot cope with the number of dead in nearby cities such as Satkhira.
The main state-run Khulna general hospital is one of four in the city treating coronavirus patients and has 400 beds but demand far outstrips supply.
"We have been dealing with enormous admission pressure in hospitals," said Niaz Muhammad, chief government doctor for the Khulna region.
He denied there was an oxygen shortage.
'The situation is dire'
But another grieving relative also told how her brother had died without oxygen.
Afroza, who used only one name, shed tears in a hospital ward.
"If only they could have given a little oxygen to my brother, he would still be alive," she said.
Police and troops have patrolled the streets across Bangladesh, home to 168 million people, since Thursday to enforce the lockdown. Hundreds of people have been arrested each day for leaving their homes.
In Khulna, restrictions on movement have been in place since last month, as the infection rate has soared.
But the city's factories are still open and many people say they are forced to go out to work.
Student Rafikul Islam said he walked seven kilometres (four miles) to his part-time factory job as there were no buses.
"Most shops and transport are shut down. But given Khulna's serious situation, we must maintain this. There is no other way. The situation is dire," he said.
Officially, Bangladesh has recorded just over 935,000 cases and 14,900 deaths in the past 15 months, but most people say the figures are drastically under-reported.
Mohammad Babu, who works in a Khulna cemetery, said he has never been so busy in his 32 years digging graves.
"The number of burials this year is much higher than at any time in the past," he said.
Health officials blame the surge on people's refusal to wear masks or keep social distance.
"People cannot be bothered to isolate and this spreads the infection even more," said Suhas Halder, spokesperson for Khulna's main coronavirus hospital.
URL="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-bangladeshs-coronavirus-hotspot-gasps-for-air-as-tough-lockdown-bites-2478866"]https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-bangladeshs-coronavirus-hotspot-gasps-for-air-as-tough-lockdown-bites-2478866[/URL]
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