China has approved emergency use of Sinovac Biotech’s (SVA.O) COVID-19 vaccine in people aged between three and 17, its chairman Yin Weidong told state TV late on Friday.

Authorities in Satkhira today imposed a week-long lockdown in the district, following a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases. The decision has been taken to break the chain of coronavirus transmission after the positivity rate in the district was found to be 53 percent, officials said.

The European Union on Friday submitted a plan to the World Trade Organization that it believes will more effectively broaden supply of Covid-19 vaccines than the intellectual property (IP) rights waiver backed by the United States.

Top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has called on China to release the medical records of nine people whose ailments might provide vital clues into whether COVID-19 first emerged as the result of a lab leak, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said China is a little upset that the procurement price of Sinopharm vaccine was made public in Bangladesh.

Serum Institute of India has got Drug Controller General of India's green signal to manufacture Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in the country for examination, test and analysis with certain conditions, official sources said today.

Bangladesh has made a strong call for a temporary waiver from certain TRIPS obligations for the production of vaccines, medicines and other health technologies to effectively respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

A new outbreak of Covid-19 is growing near Myanmar's northwestern border with India, bringing the sharpest increase in cases since the military coup in February led to a collapse in health services and the testing programme.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have made the Pfizer/BioNTech (PFE.N), coronavirus vaccine available as a booster shot to those initially immunised with a vaccine developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).

Australia's Victoria state authorities said on Friday they had detected the highly infectious Delta Covid-19 virus variant for the first time in the latest outbreak in Melbourne, stoking concerns of a major spike in cases.

According to a White House fact sheet, nearly 19 million (1.9 crore) doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be shared by the US through COVAX, out of which approximately seven million (70 lakh) are for Bangladesh and 15 other Asian countries.

The United States on Thursday told India about its plans to make COVID-19 vaccines available to other countries, including the South Asian nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office said.

Two Oman expatriate brothers have died of Covid-19.

The heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Thursday urged the Group of Seven advanced economies to release any excess COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries as soon as possible, and called on manufacturers to ramp up production.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital, was taken back to a cabin of the hospital today after a month’s stay at the Coronary Care Unit (CCU).

Thirty people have died from Covid-19 in 24 hours (till 8am today), according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Nine more persons died at the coronavirus unit of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital over 24 hours till 9am today, raising the district’s Covid-19 and suspected death toll to 77 in last 11 days.

Britain is in talks with AstraZeneca for additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine that will have been modified to better target the Beta coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, health minister Matt Hancock said on Wednesday.

The border districts of Bangladesh have adequate oxygen in their stock to deal with Covid-19 patients, DGHS spokesperson Dr Nazmul Islam said today.

Seventeen of 63 people who returned from Chapainawabganj have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in Moulvibazar this evening.