Covid Vaccination: Govt lowers age limit to 25 years

The government yesterday lowered the age limit from 30 to 25 years for Covid-19 vaccination.

Health directorate officials said from now on anyone aged 25 and above can register on the Surokkha app or website for vaccines.

The development comes at a time when the pandemic situation in the country is becoming grimmer by the day.

Meanwhile, the health directorate reported 239 Covid deaths in 24 hours preceding 8:00am yesterday.

The country during the same period logged 15,271 new Covid-19 cases -- the second highest cases confirmed in a day, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The previous day, Bangladesh logged record 16,230 cases.

Yesterday, the positivity rate stood at 29.21 percent after testing 52,282 samples during the 24 hours.

Infections and deaths caused by the virus have been setting new records since the Delta variant spread at community level in the country in May.

The DGHS data shows Covid infections have been on the rise in 39 districts in the last seven days till Tuesday, compared to the preceding week.

After the number of daily tests increased notably following the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, a total of 86,053 new cases were reported in the last seven days.

The number of deaths, meanwhile, was 1,570 in the same period.

Yesterday, the highest positivity rate of 66 percent was reported in Munshiganj followed by 57 percent in Shariatpur.

In Dhaka division, the average positivity rate was 27 percent.

The pandemic situation appeared to be the worst in Sylhet, Barishal and Chattogram divisions with 40, 39, and 37 percent positivity rates, according to DGHS data.

The positivity rates were 27 percent in Mymensingh, 26 percent in Khulna, 29 percent in Rangpur, and 23 percent in Rajshahi.

As of yesterday, the pandemic has caused 20,255 deaths and 12,26,253 infections in the country.

Of those reported dead yesterday, 123 were men and 116 women. Of them, 76 died in Dhaka, 57 in Chattogram, 45 in Khulna, 13 in Rajshahi, 14 each in Barishal and Sylhet, 11 in Rangpur and nine in Mymensingh divisions.