Some people in foreign lands conspiring against country: Health Minister

Dhaka, Jan 4 (UNB) : Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque on Thursday said that some people staying in foreign lands along with some local people are conspiring against the country.
“This anti-state group won’t be allowed to conspire against the country,” he warned while attending a programme at National Cancer Research Institute and Hospital in the capital.
“Unable to impose any harm finally, they are now conspiring against the most important issue vaccine in the country and spreading fake information using foreign television channel in foreign lands,” the health minister said.
People’s interest in taking vaccine doses are rising day by day as the people are not getting confused by the fake rumours over coronavirus vaccine, Maleque said.
Around 1.5 lakh people have already registered through Surokkha app until Thursday, he said.
Talking about the rising cancer cases in country the minister said currently around 1.5 lakh people are suffering from cancer in the country.
Patients are facing financial damage for going abroad for treatment, he said, insisting that “Large cancer hospitals should be established at eight divisions.”
Vaccination in Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive at Kurmitola General Hospital in the capital on January 27.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said at the launch that “70 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines are now available in the country. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the safest one in the world”.
For getting a shot, one needs to get registered on www.surokkha.gov.bd.
For now, the vaccination programme will be limited to five centres in the capital and nationwide inoculation will start in early February.
Latest Covid-19 situation
Bangladesh’s Covid-19 fatalities rose to 8,175 on Thursday as the health authorities recorded 13 more coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till morning.
“The mortality rate is now 1.52 percent,” the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a handout.
Meanwhile, 485 new cases were identified pushing up the national tally to 537,030.
The daily detection rate fell to 3.18 percent while the current overall rate is 14.48 percent.
Until the morning, 481,917 patients (89.74 percent) were recovered. So far, 3,708,907 samples have been tested, including 15,372 in the past 24 hours.