Bangladesh is the first among the South Asian countries to have successfully tackled the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Sunday, a day after more than one crore people got their first shots under a special nationwide drive.
Maleque said this while speaking as the special guest at the orientation programme of 42nd BCS Cadre at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.
He said during the special drive on Saturday a total of 1.20 crore people were administered Covid vaccines, 1.11 crore of them receiving the first dose, overshooting the target set by the government.
The target was to inoculate one crore people with the first Covid dose.
With this, he said, 73 per cent of the country’s population have now been brought under vaccination.
Bangladesh has been able to reach the 100 per cent vaccination target set by the World Health Organization, he said, adding that the special mass drive will continue for two more days.
The minister said the government has invested energy, labour and money to ensure that the country has enough laboratories, oxygen plants, hospital beds, doctors, nurses and telemedicine facilities to become the first among the South Asian countries in successfully tackling the pandemic.
So far, up to 20.60 crore doses have been administered across the country, he said.
Maleque reminded the newly appointed doctors of increasing infectious diseases and prescribed proper treatment by taking care of the resistance to antibiotics.
