10cr people to get Covid shots by Dec

Ten crore people in the country will be vaccinated by December, Lokman Hossain Mian, secretary at the Health Services Division, said yesterday.

He came up with the statement hours after 54 lakh doses of Sinopharm's Covid-19 vaccine reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from China.

"Around 20 crore shots of Covid vaccine will arrive by that time [December] and we will be able to vaccinate 10 crore people with those," he told reporters following an event at the National Institute of Mental Health & Hospital in the capital.

He, however, did not clarify how the target would be achieved.

Asked whether the vaccination centres would be expanded to the union or ward level, he said, "We will increase collaboration."

According to health officials, the government has a stock of around 1.5 crore doses of Covid vaccines, including those 54 lakh doses from China.

Earlier, the government backtracked on its decision to continue a special vaccination drive by setting up around 6,000 centers across the country.

The government conducted the special campaign from August 7-12, under which around 34 lakh people received their first jabs.

Yesterday, a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines landed at HSIA at 12:44am with the Sinopharm vaccines, Dr Shamsul Haque, a line director at the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told The Daily Star.

On behalf of the government, Dr Shamsul received the consignment at the airport.

48 DIE, 1,327 GET COVID

Meanwhile, the DGHS reported 48 people died of Covid-19 in 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday.

Thirty-eight deaths were reported the previous day.

In those 24 hours, 1,327 people tested Covid-19 positive.

With this, the total number of deaths from novel coronavirus rose to 26,880 and the total number of infections to 15,28,542.

Yesterday, the positivity rate was 7.03 percent against 18,869 tests carried out across the country.

Of the deceased , 22 were males and 26 females, shows DGHS data.