Vaccination age lowered to 25

Bangladesh brought down the age limit for receiving coronavirus jabs to 25 years on Thursday as the country continues to see a massive surge in the number of daily cases and fatalities.

On the day, the country recorded 239 deaths and 15,271 new cases in a 24-hour period until 8am. The daily positivity rate was found to be 29.21 per cent after testing 52,282 samples at 643 laboratories.

“The government plans to gradually reduce the age limit to 18 years in phases to bring more people under vaccination coverage. The age limit has been lowered to 25 as part of the initiative,” said Robed Amin, the director and spokesperson of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

In a regular press release, the DGHS said the death tally stood at 20,255. So far, 12,26,253 cases have been confirmed. Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first coronavirus-related death on March 18, 2020.

In the past 24 hours, 14,336 patients recovered, taking the total recovery number 10,50,220.

Among the deceased, 123 are men and 116 women. Of them, 181 died at public hospitals, 43 at private hospitals and 15 at their homes, DGHS said.

Dhaka division logged 76 deaths, followed by Chattogram (57), Khulna (45), Rangpur (11), Barishal (14) and Sylhet (14), Rajshahi (13) and Mymensingh (9).

The government launched a mass vaccination programme on February 7 and set 55 as the minimum age for registration. The age limit was reduced in several phases.

Now, citizens aged 25 and above will be able to sign up for jabs through surokkha.gov.bd

Meanwhile, dengue cases continue to surge amid the coronavirus outbreak.

In a separate release, the DGHS said that at least 194 people suffering from dengue fever were admitted to hospitals in the country in 24 hours

till 8am.

This is the highest single-day infection reported so far this year. Since January 1, the health authorities recorded 2,292 dengue cases.