Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said that France has declared 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Bangladesh.

Pfizer Inc has applied for approval from Japan's health ministry to use Covid-19 vaccines on children aged 5 to 11, it said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Bangladesh is set to get 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine from Saudi Arabia and 3.3 million from Poland soon.

The procedure to produce Molnupiravir, the first ever pill to treat symptomatic Covid-19, developed by US drug companies Merck and the Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, has begun in Bangladesh.

The rising number of cases of Covid-19 in Europe is of “grave concern” and the region could see another half a million deaths by early next year, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday.

Britain on Thursday became the first country in the world to approve a potentially game-changing COVID-19 antiviral pill jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck (MRK.N) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, in a boost to the fight against the pandemic.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is set to provide $750 million for vaccine purchase and to help the economy to recover from the fallout of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The government is planning to expand the vaccination programme for schoolchildren aged between 12 and 17 to six more divisional cities and 14 districts.

The World Health Organization today approved India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine “Covaxin” for emergency use listing (EUL) status.

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday backed broad use of Pfizer's and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11, clearing the way for shots to go into young arms as soon as Wednesday.

The vaccination programme for schoolchildren aged between 12 and 17 would be expanded outside the capital.

The government yesterday started inoculating 12- to 17-year-old school students against Covid-19.

The campaign to vaccinate school students, aged between 12-17, against Covid-19 began in Dhaka today.

The government is set to start inoculating 12 to 17-year-olds in Dhaka city with the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, which has been approved by the World Health Organisation for use in children, from today.

The campaign to vaccinate school students -- aged 12 to 17 -- will start from tomorrow at eight centres, instead of 12, due to lack of adequate facilities.

The Delta coronavirus variant can transmit easily from vaccinated people to their household contacts, a British study found on Thursday, although contacts were less likely to get infected if they were vaccinated themselves.

The government will begin vaccinating school students of Dhaka aged between 12 and 17 years against Covid-19 from November 1, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

The Russian capital brought in its strictest COVID-19 related lockdown measures in more than a year on Thursday as nationwide one-day pandemic deaths and infections hit new highs amid slow vaccination take-up across the world's biggest country.

The government will begin vaccinating school students from November 1, Health Minister Zahid Maleque told reporters this afternoon.

A special campaign to administer the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine to over 66 lakh people -- aged 25 and above -- started across the country this morning.