Offices were closed, markets were shuttered and vehicles were forced off the streets in Nepal's capital on Thursday as authorities imposed a 15-day lockdown because of spiking cases of COVID-19.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA) in Asia will call on Japan, Singapore and South Korea to support the ‘temporary TRIPS Waiver’ proposal at the World Trade Organization’s general council meeting tomorrow.

Bangladesh has offered to dispatch, on emergency basis, medicines and medical equipment in view of the rapidly deteriorating coronavirus situation in India.

The National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 has alerted the government regarding artificial oxygen crisis in the country.

Europe could reach herd immunity "in July, latest by August," the head of German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved Covid-19 vaccine with US partner Pfizer, said yesterday (Wednesday).

The United States is sending supplies worth more than $100 million to India to help it fight a surge of Covid-19 cases, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.

A 10-member medical board was formed for the treatment of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at Evercare Hospital in Bashundhara.

China, and five South Asian countries, have opposed the idea of "vaccine nationalism" and politicising the issue of Covid-19 origin while calling for the distribution of vaccines under the principle of equity and justice.

Seventy-seven 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).

The government has taken the initiative to produce Chinese and Russian Covid-19 vaccines through local companies in Bangladesh.

India’s toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, the country’s deadliest day yet, as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new infections.

The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that a variant of COVID-19 feared to be contributing to a surge in coronavirus cases in India has been found in over a dozen countries.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time on April 24, has been admitted to Evercare Hospital.

Fifteen of the 300 Bangladeshis who were stuck in India's Petrapole land port returned home this morning through Benapole check-post.

The 10 Covid-19 patients who fled from Jashore General Hospital were forced by authorities concerned to be readmitted to the hospital.

Some people in India are rushing unnecessarily to hospital, exacerbating a crisis over surging COVID-19 infections caused by mass gatherings, more contagious variants and low vaccination rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

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

There is no shortage of oxygen at hospitals right now, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said today.

Bangladesh has given the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V emergency usage authorisation today.

France announced today it would send oxygen generation plants, ventilators, and other medical supplies to support India's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, as the first shipment of vital medical supplies from Britain reached New Delhi.