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‘No lockdown right now’

‘Registration for booster dose from Dec-end’
Staff Correspondent
22 Dec 2021 00:01:04 | Update: 22 Dec 2021 00:01:04
‘No lockdown right now’

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Tuesday ruled out any further Covid-induced lockdown in the country.

“Necessary steps are being taken to check the spread of Omicron,” he said.

Fearing the spread of the new variant, Zahid Maleque said Omicron has not yet spread in the country. The Health Minister said, “People are crowding different tourist spots, including Cox’s Bazar, without wearing masks. People aren’t maintaining any Covid safety protocol, raising the risk of Covid infections.”

He also said the registration through ‘Surokkha’ App for administering Covid-19 booster dose will start at the end of December after updating the app.

“The ICT ministry is working to update the app. Now the citizens above 60 and frontliners are getting the booster shot on a limited scale by showing their vaccine cards,” the minister said at the secretariat.

The government started administering booster doses to health workers on a trial basis in Dhaka on Sunday, he said.

The Health Ministry has asked the Deputy Commissioners and Civil Surgeons to take steps so that people across the country maintain health protocol.

Seven crore people received the first dose and 4.5 crore people have been fully vaccinated so far in Bangladesh, he said.

Bangladesh has been an example of a success story in preventing Covid surge. “Now the positivity rate has declined and it needs to be maintained. Besides, all hospitals now have adequate oxygen support.”

He said Bangladesh will sign an agreement with the Maldives under which the island nation will recruit doctors and nurses from Bangladesh.

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