The Jatiya Sangsad yesterday passed the Tk 568,000-crore national budget for fiscal 2020-21, which, according to experts, may prove difficult to implement amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It was a quiet Friday evening at the Holey Artisan Bakery towards the end of Ramadan in 2016.

The Sampadak Parishad (Editors’ Council) yesterday issued a statement condemning the recent spate of cases and arrests of editors, journalists, writers, university teachers under the Digital Security Act (DSA) for expressing critical views about mismanagement in dealing with Covid-19.

The authorities yesterday reported 64 more Covid-19 deaths, the highest in a single day, and 3,682 new cases of infection.

A little over two months ago, the chief of the country’s health directorate in an interview with an Indian magazine narrated Bangladesh government’s position on Covid-19 testing, saying the tests were free of costs.

Barishal division’s only RT-PCR lab, set up at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, is struggling to examine samples, as the demand for Covid-19 tests rises.

Officials yesterday reported an all-time daily high of 4,014 coronavirus infections.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing yesterday.

Hundreds of jute mill workers yesterday took to the streets in Dhaka, Khulna and Chattogram, protesting the government decision to shut all state-run jute mills and lay off 25,000 workers.

The government has set fees, Tk 200 and Tk 500, for Covid-19 testing at the public health facilities.

The government has started using tuberculosis diagnosis machine -- GeneXpert -- to detect Covid-19, in a desperate attempt to ease the strain on its testing facilities with limited number of RT-PCR machines.

Roads and Highway Department (RHD) restricted vehicular movement on one of the four lanes of First Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge in the capital’s Postogola since yesterday evening as a crack developed on it after being hit by a rescue ship.

The government’s zero tolerance policy against corruption will continue and none will be spared, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said in parliament.

A novice was allegedly at the helm moving the Moyur-2 astern when the vessel slammed into a smaller launch, causing it to sink and drown at least 32 people in the Buriganga at the capital's Shyambazar yesterday.

Global infections from the novel coronavirus have surpassed 10 million as the rate of new cases surges.

As the official coronavirus death toll in the country surged past 1,700 yesterday, experts said the actual figure of death would be much higher had those died with Covid-19 symptoms been taken into account.

A unified appeal, signed by 105 world leaders, including 18 Nobel laureates, 32 former heads of state and government, political leaders, artistes, international NGOs and institutions, has urged governments, foundations, philanthropists and social businesses to come forward and produce and distribute Covid-19 vaccines all over the world for free.

The government will authorise the use of rapid testing kits for measuring antibodies in patients infected with the coronavirus.

Migrant labour sending countries should strongly oppose forced deportation of workers during the pandemic and there should be a transitional justice mechanism for those facing job loss and wage theft, experts said.

Though the scientific community is mulling over whether the Covid-19 reinfection cases are possible, Bangladeshi scientist Dr Bijon Kumar Shil rules out the chances.