The coronavirus pandemic inflicted a “swift and massive shock” that has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870 despite unprecedented government support, the World Bank said Monday.

Dr Zahid Hussain served as a Lead Economist in the Macro, Trade and Investment Global Practice of the World Bank. Since joining the World Bank in 1995, he has worked on several of the organisation’s flagship reports on Bangladesh. Prior to that, he was a member of academia, with 14 years of teaching experience in a number of universities in Bangladesh and abroad.

With Covid-19 bringing economic activities across nations to a halt, more and more people are being pushed into poverty. Job losses, business losses and farming losses, leading to economic stress, are pushing many to the fringes of poverty. And as families are being rendered helpless, the worst sufferers are invariably the children.

Gonoshasthaya Kendra Founder and Trustee Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, who tested Covid-19 positive on May 24, is now feeling better.

Authorities of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University will not submit this week the performance trial result of home-grown Covid-19 testing kit developed by Gonoshasthaya Kendra.

Disease experts yesterday questioned a statement by the World Health Organization that transmission of Covid-19 by people with no symptoms is “very rare”, saying this guidance could pose problems for governments as they seek to lift lockdowns.

Army patrols have been increased in Dhaka’s East Rajabazar as the area prepares to go under lockdown on an experimental basis at midnight.

Infected with Covid-19 and later suffering a stroke, former health minister Mohammed Nasim is still in deep coma.

Covid-19 has taken away the life of another physician at Tejgaon in Dhaka.

Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder and trustee Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, who tested positive for Covid-19 on May 24, is now feeling better.

A total of 677 Bangladeshi citizens, most of whom are migrant workers, have returned from Kuwait, UAE and Maldives by three separate special flights since Monday.

Around 244 members of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party, who earlier tested positive for Covid-19, have recovered till today with a recovery rate of around 58 percent, according to an official of the force.

Ranajit Kumar Roy, lawmaker from Jashore-4 constituency, has tested Covid-19 positive.

The total number of police personnel infected with Covid-19 across the country reaches to 6,718, according to a tally by the Police Headquarters.

Forty-five people died with coronavirus infections, 3,171 were infected and 777 recovered in the last 24 hours, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) says.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Mahabubor Rahman has tested positive for coronavirus.

A 100-year-old woman in Bangladesh has survived Covid-19 infection despite being a heart disease patient and suffering from old-age complications, family members say.

Faruk Mia came to Dhaka on Saturday, all the way from Narsingdi, to buy an oxygen cylinder for his 65-year-old ailing father as it could not be managed in his district.

Growing up in a joint family had its perks. For example, there was hardly a chance to get bored. On the rare occasion I did get bored, I vividly remember my mother threatening to make me memorise my time-tables if I complained. It was a much dreaded punishment. It makes me wonder how the children are coping in this pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is spreading at an exponential rate and policymakers are racing against time to find effective solutions.