Govt to issue circular on Covid curbs in days

Health Minister Zahid Maleque. File photo

Health Minister Zahid Maleque yesterday said the government would implement the latest recommendations of the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 regarding restrictions on public movement.

"We have to abide by the directives of the government as well as the technical committee [NTAC]. The directives will be published [as circular] within a couple of days," he said while addressing an event in Manikganj.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Dipu Moni yesterday said they would come up with a decision about in-person classes at educational institutions after a meeting with NTAC today.

"We will sit with the national technical advisory committee [NTAC] on Covid-19 tomorrow. We will discuss the overall situation and make a decision," she said while talking to journalists at the secretariat.

She also said that they assumed coronavirus infection would surge in March but it started to increase in early January. "So, we need to make some adjustments to our plans."

The minister said, "We do not want to close the educational institutions. Rather, we want students to go there after taking vaccines. But it will become a problem for those aged below 12 years."

The ministers came up with the statements at a time when another case of Omicron variant of coronavirus was detected in the country, raising the total number of Omicron cases to 21.

The new Omicron infected patient was a 22-year-old male from Dhaka, according to the data published on the global database GISAID last night.

His sample was collected for genome sequencing on December 28 by the Child Health Research Foundation.

The positivity rate of Covid-19 has also continued to rise as the health directorate reported 5.79 percent positive cases against 19,275 tests in the last 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday.

The positivity rate was 5.67 percent the previous day.

For the previous three and a half month since September 21, the positivity rate was below five percent -- a parameter that suggests control over virus transmission.

Yesterday, the total number of new cases was 1,116, decreased from 1,146 on the previous day.

On Friday night, the NTAC recommended engaging law enforcement agencies, including operating mobile court drives, so that health guidelines are strictly followed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

At the 50th meeting, the committee came up with four recommendations including strict implementation of health guidelines, bringing all the students under the vaccination programme, ensuring screening at all entry points, and ensuring quarantine and isolation, and preparing adequate general beds and ICU facilities in all Covid-19 designated hospitals and ample oxygen supplies.