People who took the first Covid-19 jab still has time to take the second dose, as the gap between the two jabs can be as long as 12 weeks, up from eight weeks maintained in Bangladesh, experts said at a webinar today. It is also reported in some countries that the second dose can be injected even after 16 weeks of the first jab, they added. They made the comments at a webinar
Editorial
Immediate cash support and long-term protection policies needed in this sector
Holding a paperboard over her head to shield herself from the scorching sun, Fulmoti, 75, waits for handouts at Khilkhet level crossing in the capital on May 4, 2021. Widowed after the Liberation War, the mother-of-two used to work at a local restaurant as a cooking assistant. She lost her job last year after the eatery was shut amid the pandemic. She now depends on donations to survive. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq
That the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns have been difficult for the poor, especially the urban poor, should not come as a surprise to anyone. According to an estimate from the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), the countrywide shutdown last year caused an 80 percent drop in income of the labouring class in urban areas. A survey conducted by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) and the Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) suggested th
The government faces a challenge in reaching the target population in need of financial assistance amid the Covid pandemic in the absence of a comprehensive database of poor people.
To store basic information of all citizens, a Cabinet Division committee in November last year sent a proposal to the Prime Minister s Office for having a separate authority that will provide services relating to National Identity (NID) cards.
However, the proposal has been lying with the PMO for more than four months. We are yet to get any feedback from the Prime Minister s Office…, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Sultan Ahmed, the chief of the committee, told The Daily Star recently.
Over the last couple of weeks, Abdus Sobhan, a day labourer in the capital, saw his earnings drop to almost nothing.
With the government-imposed restrictions taking effect on April 14, the 40-year-old man, who crushes bricks and moves soil at construction sites, could hardly manage any work to make a living.
With very little income and no help around, he is worried about his survival in the city in the coming days as the government extended the restrictions till May 5. I have my elderly parents at my village home to look after. But if I cannot earn, how would I feed my family? Sobhan, who has been living in a slum in the city s Mirpur area for nearly seven years, told this newspaper yesterday.
According to the report, the poverty rate increased to 25.13 percent at the end of 2020.
Although the government does not have the latest data of new poor as a result of Covid-19 crisis, the report s lead researcher, Binayak Sen, warns that the second wave of the pandemic could take a more severe humanitarian and economic toll.
Reflecting on last year s situation, Binayak, now the director general of BIDS, fears a frequent shift in the policy over the lockdown and reopening businesses would hardly make any positive impact on containing the rogue virus. There would be a rise in the infection, which would lead to more deaths and prompt the government to go for a stricter lockdown. People s livelihood would be destroyed and the poverty rate would further rise, he told The Daily Star.