US to send 2.5 Million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh

The United States will be sending 2.5 million doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh. US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller in a Twitter post on June 26 said that Bangladesh will soon receive a gift of vaccines from Americans under the COVAX programme. The decision of the Biden administration comes amid the rising coronavirus infections in Bangladesh. 

President Joe Biden has declared the United States as the world's vaccine "arsenal" in the war on the novel virus. The Biden administration has committed to donating $2 billion to COVAX and also purchasing 500 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to donate it to countries worldwide. Earlier this month, The White House said that vaccines will be shipped in August 2021 to 92 low and lower-middle-income countries. The United States will distribute 200 million doses by the end of this year and the remaining 300 million will be delivered in the first half of 2022. .

COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), as on June 29, Bangladesh has recorded 7,666 more COVID cases in the 24 hours taking the overall tally to 904,436. Another 112 deaths have been reported during the period, bringing the number of total fatalities to 14,388. The total number of people recovered from the virus stands at 811,700.

Amid the surge in COVID-19 infections, the Bangladesh government has announced that it will enforce a nationwide all-out lockdown from July 1 instead of June 28 to control the spread of the novel virus, reported ANI. The decision came from a high-level meeting on June 26 presided over by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

The strict lockdown decision was attributed to a "dangerous and alarming" surge in Delta variant cases of coronavirus. Under the lockdown rules, all government and private offices would remain shut during the lockdown. Only emergency services are allowed to operate under the guidelines. All kinds of transports, except those carrying emergency supplies, ambulances and vehicles for healthcare services and media, will remain suspended. 

IMAGE: AP

Inputs from ANI