Coronavirus: Bangladesh reopens schools; Japan passes 50 per cent vaccination rate
- All educational institutes in Bangladesh had been closed since March 2020, two weeks after the first Covid-19 cases emerged in the South Asian country
- Elsewhere, Australia has bought an additional 1 million doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine from the European Union, and Tokyo mulls easing limits
“The students of the first to fourth grades, and sixth to ninth grades, will attend classes once a week for an initial period of three weeks,” Education Minister Dipu Moni said.
Those who are scheduled to sit for public exams at the end of fifth, 10th and 12th grades will attend classes every day, she said, adding all other classes will resume gradually, situation permitting.
She ordered the school authorities to properly maintain the health guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus.
Bangladesh shut all educational institutes in March 2020, two weeks after the first cases of novel coronavirus emerged in the South Asian country.
The virus has so far infected more than 1.5 million people, with 26,880 deaths in Bangladesh, which has reported a downward trend of daily caseloads, with less than 3,000 in the first 10 days of September, compared to average daily caseloads of 10,000 in the first week of August.
Television footage showed officials at schools in Dhaka checking each students’ temperature before allowing them in. Teachers, students and staff members of the schools were seen wearing face masks.
“It feels like a festival as the students are returning to school after so long time, we welcome them all,” Nasrin Sultana, head teacher of one of the schools in Dhaka’s Mirpur neighbourhood, said.
Dressed in red and green attire, the teachers and staff members of Mirpur High Schools greeted the students with small gift box in the morning, she said.
The gate at a girls’ high school in southern Jashore district was seen decorated with colourful balloons alongside a board next to it that listed the rules and restrictions that the students must follow.
The teachers of the school were seen waiting at the gate with bowls of chocolate and flowers to welcome their students.
Bangladesh has more than 3.39 million students at the primary, secondary and higher secondary level studying across 168,100 educational institutes, according to the country’s Bureau of Statistics.
Japan passes 50 per cent vaccination rate, may ease limits
Japan’s vaccine roll-outs began in mid-February, months behind many wealthy countries because of its lengthy clinical testing requirement and approval process. Inoculations for elderly patients, which started in April, were also slowed by supply shortages of imported vaccines, but the pace picked up in late May and has since achieved 1 million doses per day.
Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of Covid-19 measures, told NHK public television’s weekly talk show Sunday that about 60 per cent of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, on par with current levels in Europe.
The government is studying a road map for easing restrictions around November when a large majority of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated. That would allow fully vaccinated people and those who test negative to travel, gather for parties or attend mass events.
The progress of vaccinations has helped reduce serious cases and deaths among older people, but infections from virus variants spread explosively in August among younger generations still largely unvaccinated, severely straining health care systems.
Japan last Friday extended the ongoing state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other areas until September 30. It had been expected to end Sunday. The measures focus on requests for eateries to close early and not serve alcohol.
Japan has done much better than other developed countries in curbing illnesses and deaths without a lockdown. It has counted more than 1.65 million cases and 16,700 deaths.
Australia buys 1 million more doses of Moderna vaccine
The purchase is a boost for Australia’s A$2 trillion (US$1.5 trillion) economy, which is at risk of slipping into its second recession in as many years as a result of lockdowns of the country’s two most populous cities, Sydney and Melbourne.
These lockdowns will remain until 70 per cent of the country’s near 26 million population are fully vaccinated, which is not expected until late October.
But Morrison said the million doses will arrive later this week. Australia has ordered 25 million vaccines from Moderna.
“Some good news today. A family sized dose of hope for our vaccination programme,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Australia has recorded 73,610 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic begun. The death toll rose by 7 to 1,091.
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, reported on Sunday 1,262 locally acquired Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, down from 1,599 infections recorded a day earlier.
Neighbouring Victoria reported 392 Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, down slightly from the 450 cases recorded in the state the day before.
Meanwhile, Queensland, Australia’s third most populous state, said on Sunday it does not need to order a lockdown after it detected zero Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours.
The state on Saturday reported five cases of Covid-19, with state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warning that a lockdown could be needed to stop the spread of the virus.
However, the state said testing had yet to detect any further cases, avoiding the need for such a measure.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, but this is the best result we could have hoped for at this point in the outbreak,” Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles told reporters in Brisbane.
Reporting by DPA, Associated Press, Reuters
