Wasim Bin Habib

In the first week of last month when the country started seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 infections, healthcare experts sounded alarm, urging the government to take immediate measures to rein in the surge before it goes out of control.

An intense and sustained vaccination campaign can play a pivotal role in Bangladesh’s future economic benefits up to more than 10 percent of its current GDP, according to a new report of the World Bank.

The record of daily cases of Covid-19 got shattered yesterday and deaths from the deadly virus have been climbing every day. Hospitalisation is soaring as well. But the situation on the streets hardly gives any indication of how dangerous things have become.

Rabindra Mohan Das spent the entire evening yesterday watching live on television the programmes celebrating 50 years of the country’s independence.

It was a spring evening on March 17, 1920. In the stillness of the evening that enveloped the sleepy village of Tungipara in Gopalganj subdivision, a baby boy was born, illuminating the humble family of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman and Sheikh Sayera Khatun.

In a first-ever move, the government is going to use €524.56 million from the ballooning foreign exchange reserves for a development project.

State lenders in Bangladesh are sometimes in the news for all the wrong reasons. But they also carry the weight of the fast-expanding economy.

With the novel coronavirus spreading to different countries across the globe early last year, there was then an obvious fear that the pandemic would hit Bangladesh’s shores soon.

In the face of depleting food stock and sluggish public procurement of foodgrains, the government has started providing cash instead of rice or wheat to implement its Test Relief and Food for Work programmes.

The coronavirus crisis has worsened education inequality between rich and poor in Bangladesh as a huge number of students from poor families are not able to access the distance learning adopted by the government, according to a World Bank working paper.

With small businesses still struggling to recover from the pandemic-induced economic slowdown, the government has rolled out two fresh stimulus packages involving Tk 2,700 crore to boost the cottage industry and SMEs and expand the social security scheme for the elderly and widows in poverty-stricken areas.

As confusion continues over the price of Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, the government and the Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd have reiterated that Bangladesh will get the vaccine at the same price India is paying.

Bangladesh will seek to retain the zero duty benefit and the market access for five years after its graduation to a developing country as the pandemic took a heavy toll on the nation’s economy.

Bangladesh yesterday approved the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for importing the vaccine from Serum Institute of India.

Bangladesh has approved the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, paving the way for bringing the vaccine for emergency use.

Abdur Rahim*, a private tutor in Dhaka, thought his life had finally stabilised after two decades of hard work. With a steady income, he could afford a place in the capital and sustain his family.

When the Covid-19 outbreak led to a closure of educational institutions in late March, students, guardians and teachers alike speculated that the disruption would last a few months.

Although Bangladesh achieved food security and improved access to food, eight percent of the households where the urban poor live still go to sleep with empty stomachs, reveals a government survey.

Bangladesh is on track to graduate to a developing country from a least developed one as a UN body estimates that the country’s scores in all three criteria would be much higher from the graduation threshold next year.

Mizanur Rahman stood still, gazing with awe from the bank of the Padma river at the specialised floating crane laying down the last span on the mega structure yesterday.