Army Coup In Myanmar : Aung San Suu Kyi Detained

Myanmar’s military has seized power in a coup, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of the country’s ruling party after several days of rising tensions over the results of a recent election.

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 75-year-old state counsellor, President Win Myint and other members of the ruling National League for Democracy party were arrested at their residences in the capital Naypyidaw early on Monday .

The announcement and the declaration of a state of emergency follows days of concern about the threat of a military coup — and military denials that it would stage one — and came on the morning the country’s new Parliament session was to begin.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy released a statement on one of its Facebook pages saying the military’s actions were unjustified and went against the constitution and the will of voters. The statement urged people to oppose Monday’s “coup” and any return to “military dictatorship.”

The coup comes after tensions rose between the civilian government and the military following a disputed election.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the military until democratic reforms began in 2011. 

Communication Cut Off :

As military leaders seized power, there were significant internet and phone network disruption across the country, which could affect the ability of people to get information or organize any response via social media.

Netblocks, which monitors internet blackouts around the world, said that real-time network data showed a major drop in connectivity in the early hours of Monday morning. Doug Madory, an analyst at Kentik, a network observability company, added on Twitter that there was a "large internet outage" unfolding.

 

"Continuing disconnections have been monitored with national connectivity falling initially to 75% and subsequently 50% of ordinary levels by 8:00 a.m. local time," according to Netblocks. 

 

Reuters reported that Myanmar state media MRTV was having technical issues and unable to broadcast, the network said. "Due to current communication difficulties we'd like to respectfully inform you that the regular programs of MRTV and Myanmar Radio cannot be broadcast," Myanmar Radio and Television said on a post on its Facebook page.

 

 

Can Pakistan Get Covid Vaccine From India ?

Next week, Pakistan plans to launch vaccination programme  against Covid -19, starting with health workers getting jabs of free doses of a China-made vaccine. 

 The vaccine powerhouse - India makes about 60% of vaccines globally - has also begun shipping millions of free doses to friendly neighbours Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal  in the region, in what is being described as "vaccine diplomacy". 

Unsurprisingly, Pakistan is not a recipient. The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, with the last war between them taking place in 1971. They came to the brink of war in 2019 over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Pakistan plans to inoculate at least 70% of its 220 million people against Covid free of cost. Regulators have given emergency use approval for three candidates - the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the China made Sinopharm and Russian-developed Sputnik V. Another China-made vaccine Cansino Biologics  is in final clinical trials in Pakistan. The country has recorded more than 530,000 infections, and 11,514 deaths from the infection so far.

For starters, China has pledged to donate 500,000 doses of the China made Sinopharm to Pakistan, and the first batches are expected to arrive at the weekend. 

Myanmar Starts India Made Coronavirus Vaccine For Healthcare Staff

State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi is on hand as medical workers receive shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Naypyitaw.

 YANGON -- Myanmar began COVID-19 vaccinations on Wednesday, five days after receiving 1.5 million doses from India, whose commitment to the Southeast Asian nation overwhelms China's in terms of volume and timeliness.

 Health staffers across Myanmar have started receiving Covid-19 vaccinations at hospitals and treatment centers under the ministry of health and sports. 

 The 1.5 million AstraZeneca doses that arrived at Yangon International Airport on Friday were made by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine producer.

 The Indian government also helped Myanmar to sign an agreement with the Serum Institute to buy an additional 30 million doses.

 Myanmar has a population of about 54 million.

 The Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal all received vaccines from India a few days earlier than Myanmar. The Indian Ocean island nations of Seychelles and Mauritius received supplies the same day as Myanmar. 

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Jan. 11 promised to provide 300,000 doses to Myanmar -- a commitment that lacks a concrete time frame. Wang was visiting Naypyidaw when he made the pledge .

Bangladesh Launches Coronavirus Vaccine As Nurse Runu Takes First Shot .

 Bangladesh launches its coronavirus vaccination campaign from today  by inoculating a nurse named Runu Veronica Costa, a senior nurse of Kurmitola General Hospital, at 4:8pm today, Wednesday.

She received the first shot after the prime minister Sheikh Hasina had virtually inaugurated the vaccination campaign from her official resident Gonobhaban.

In the inauguration ceremony of COVID-19 vaccination, some five people from different professions have been vaccinated at Kurmitola General Hospital.

The following day, five hospitals in Dhaka will begin the inoculation process while the nationwide vaccination programme will kick off on Feb 7.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Mugda General Hospital, Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University will administer the initial vaccine shots in the capital on Jan 28.

At the function, health minister Zahid Maleque said now 7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine are available in the country. Bangladesh first received two million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from India as a gift and then received five more million doses from Serum Institute of India.

He said the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the safest one in the world. The treatment facility is available in case of any side effect of the vaccine.

As many as 500 frontline health professionals will be vaccinated tomorrow, Thursday at five different hospitals in capital city.

 

 

Bangladesh Starts Vaccination Against Covid -19 From Today. 27th January .

Covishield , Coronavirus Vaccine by Serum Institute of India .

 Bangladesh is set to kick off its vaccination against covid-19 from today 27th January . Five hospitals in the Captital city Dhaka will begin the inoculation process on January 27 while the nationwide vaccination programme will kick off on February 7, according to Health Secretary Abdul Mannan.

Around 400-500 people will get the vaccine shots first. They will be kept under observation for a week before countrywide vaccination campaign begins on Feb 7.

On Tuesday, the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) cleared Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use after testing samples of the 5 million doses brought from India on Monday.

Bangladesh approved the emergency use of this vaccine on 7 Jan. It inked a deal with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd last month for procuring 30 million doses of the vaccine between January and June (five million doses each month). The country received 2 million doses of vaccine as 'gift' from India last week.  

People will be vaccinated in accordance to priority list of the National COVID-19 Vaccination and Action Plan. The priority persons are public-private health workers, freedom fighters, members of the defence and law enforcement agencies, essential government officials, elected representatives, media persons, city corporation and pourashava employees, religious representatives, burial undertakers, emergency service personnel and the individuals working at the airports, government offices and banks.

Persons interested in registering for the COVID-19 vaccination, will have to register online at the Surokkha web portal (www.surokkha.gov.bd). The mobile app for registration purposes also will be launched shortly.

Bangladesh Launches Surokkha App To Register For Coronavirus Vaccine .

Bangladesh  government has prepared a software, Surokkha, to conduct the online registration for vaccination programme against the coronavirus pandemic.

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said anyone can get registered by visiting a website, juat click here  http://aorracer.com/6w7o 

or visit www.surokkha.gov.bd

Director General of DGHS Abul Bashar Mohammed Khurshid Alam said the government will not allow anyone to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses without online registration.

The reasons behind the online registration is the government will preserve and compile the data of vaccine recipients for using that for analyses.

Director General of DGHS Abul Bashar Mohammed Khurshid Alam said  they encourage the vaccine recipients to get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the same vaccination centre.

If the option is kept open to receive the first dose and the second one from two separate centres, there is a possibility of waste of some doses, he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will open the COVID-19 vaccination programme on January 27 next.

 

China’s Sinopharm To "Gift " 5 Lakh Covid Vaccine To Pakistan

 China will provide 5 lakh doses of its Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to Pakistan by January 31.

Pakistani regulators approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use on Monday.Pakistan has also approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use but it is not known when it will be available.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said  "I thanked them and also told them we need more than this, and in the future we will need 1.1 million doses, and they reassured us and said by the end of February we plan to meet this requirement for you as well," 

Qureshi said he had also raised the possibility of jointly manufacturing vaccines with China.

Pakistan is also nearing completion of a phase three trial of another Chinese vaccine from Cansino Biologics Inc.

Some 17,500 people had enrolled in the trial so far, and initial results would be available in the beginning of February.

Pakistan's Health minister Faisal Sultan said at a press conference on Wednesday Pakistani officials had also been meeting with UK officials for discussions on procuring vaccines from there.

According to the ministry of National Health Services that the number of total cases reached 527,146, while 480,696 have so far recovered from the disease. As many as 11,157 people have died so far .

 

Bangladesh Getting 2 Million Covid Vaccine As "GIFT " On 21st January .

Bangladesh will Thursday receive two million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, manufactured in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), as a “gift” from India as the Narendra Modi government begins to roll out shipments to its immediate neighbours.

A special Indian flight carrying the consignment will land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Thursday .

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be stored at refrigerator temperature, is widely viewed as a more viable option for many poorer nations than shots from Pfizer and Moderna which need to be stored at very low temperatures.

India has received requests from dozens of nations, including urgent appeals from Brazil, to begin exports of the vaccine from the Serum Institute of India centre in the western city of Pune.

Bangladesh, a country of more than 160 million people, in November signed a preliminary agreement to buy 30 million doses of the shot from Serum - the world's biggest vaccine maker by volume.

India began giving shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as another developed by Bharat Biotech, to health workers on Saturday.

The country plans to start exporting Bharat Biotech's vaccine at a later stage.

Serum Institute  of India  has partnered with AstraZeneca, the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance to produce more than a billion doses of the vaccine for supply to lower-income countries. Brazil is expecting at least 2 million doses from Serum.

   

 

Jo Biden Take Oath As 46th President of United States

 Joe Biden  take oath as the 46th President of the United States of America and Vice President, today.

Biden will take the oath alongside Kamala Harris, who will make history as the nation’s first female, first Black and first Asian American vice-president. She will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and Latina member of the supreme court.

Just hours before Joe Biden's inauguration, outgoing President Donald Trump, who left The White House for the last time, said his administration accomplished a lot, adding be careful since the new administration will be setting in.   

Trump was impeached for “incitement to insurrection” for his role in the Capitol mayhem, becoming the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

In the aftermath of the deadly assault on the Capitol and as the death toll from the virus surpasses 400,000, Biden will assume the presidency in a city resembling a war zone and devoid of the celebratory pomp and pageantry that comes with a presidential inauguration.

Even before the attack on the Capitol, the inaugural planning committee urged Americans to stay home in an effort to minimize the risk of further spreading the disease.

After refusing to concede and only begrudgingly acknowledging his successor, Trump will hold a farewell event at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Wednesday morning. When Biden takes office, Trump will be nearly 1,000 miles away, at his south Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.

America stands at the door of a new beginning, with tonnes of hopes, all eyes will be on Biden's first few days in the office and how does he take the 'ship' further and take America out of the Trump 'storm'.

23 People Die In Norway After Taking Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine .

 Twenty-three elderly patients died in Norway following their immunization with the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine against COVID-19. Most of the deceased were reportedly elderly and terminally ill patients.

Following the post-mortem of the deceased, as many as 13 reports suggested common side-effects of the vaccine in the sick patients, said the Norwegian government.

Meanwhile, in a recent report, the Norwegian Medicines Agency has said that 21 women and 8 men have shown side effects after the jabs of vaccine were shot in their bodies.

After the shocking development, Pfizer and BioNTech have begun working with the Norwegian regulator to investigate the deaths in Norway, Pfizer said in an e-mailed statement. The agency found that "the number of incidents so far is not alarming, and in line with expectations," Pfizer said.

While officials aren't expressing serious concern, they are adjusting their guidance on who should receive the vaccine.

More than 30 000 people in Norway have received the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine since late last month.

Norway said Covid-19 vaccines may be too risky for the very old and terminally ill, the most cautious statement yet from a European health authority as countries assess the real-world side effects of the first shots to gain approval.

Should you avoid the COVID-19 vaccine?

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said for those with the most severe frailty, even relatively mild vaccine side effects can have serious consequences. But that does not mean younger, healthier people should avoid being vaccinated .

 

 

Ray Of Hope : India Starts Mass Vaccination Against Covid-19 .

 The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive is underway in all over India from saturday 16th January 2021 . India has rolled out two coronavirus vaccines - Covishield (the local name for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed in the UK) and Covaxin, locally-made by pharma company Bharat Biotech.

Millions of doses of two approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - were shipped across the country in the days leading up to the start of the drive.  Several hospitals across India are giving the first doses of the vaccine.

The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people by early August. This will happen in state-run health care centres, schools, colleges, community halls, municipal offices and wedding halls. India's drug regulator has given the green light to two vaccines -

An estimated 10 million health workers will be vaccinated in the first round, followed by policemen, soldiers, municipal and other front-line workers.

Next in line will be people aged over 50 and anyone under 50 with serious underlying health conditions. India's electoral rolls, which contain details of some 900 million voters, will be used to identify eligible recipients.  

Both vaccines will be given as two injections, 28 days apart, with the second dose being a booster. Immunity would begin to kick in after the first dose but reaches its full effect 14 days after the second dose.

The government has held training for 2,360 people at the central level as part of the exercise, including state immunisation officers, cold chain officers. Approximately 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members were trained at the state level.

Virginity Tests On Rape Victims Banned By Pakistan Court .

Women in Lahore in Pakistan holding placard against rape .

 A court in Pakistan's most populous province in Punjab  has outlawed virginity tests on rape victims, a longstanding practice in the country used to assess a woman's so-called honour.

Critics of the tests, including an invasive "two-finger test", had filed petitions in the eastern city of Lahore in a bid to have them outlawed.

What Is Two Finger Test ?

A doctor performs the test by inserting a finger into the female's vagina to check the level of vaginal laxity, which is used to determine if she is "habituated to sexual intercourse"  .However, the usefulness of these criteria has been questioned by medical authorities and opponents of virginity testing because vaginal laxity and the absence of a hymen can both be caused by other factors, and the "two-finger test" is based on subjective observation.

The practice —banned in neighboring country Afghanistan , India and Bangladesh — continues to take place in Pakistan and more than a dozen other countries where it is seen as a measure of virtue and of whether a woman is trustworthy.

If two fingers can be easily inserted into the vagina, supporters of the practice say, it shows that a woman is not a virgin, and thus lacks moral authority to make an assault or rape accusation.

The petitioners — a group of women that includes a sociologist, a journalist, an activist, a lawyer and a psychologist, as well as a member of the lower house of Parliament — argued that examining whether the hymen was intact had no scientific or legal bearing in sexual violence cases, and violated constitutional rights to privacy and  dignity .

Women’s rights activists called it a necessary step toward improving the investigative and judicial process for victims of sexual violence in a country where rape convictions are rare.

Pakistan's president had already moved to ban the two-finger virginity test, an invasive examination which involves a medical examiner inserting two fingers into a woman's vagina, in December as part of a new anti-rape law.

Bangladesh Government Institute Introduces Nasal Spray To Kill Covid -19

Bangladesh Reference Institute for Chemical Measurements (BRICM) introduces a Nasal Spray named "BANGASAFE" which is effective to kill Covid - 19 virus .

The trial on 200 COVID-19 patients at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital in May 2020 to the parliamentary standing committee on the science and technology ministry on 12th January 2021.

The Bangasafe Oro-Nasal Spray has proven safe, effective and helpful in reducing the viral load in a small trial, according to the government institute.

Dr. Mala Khan, Acting Director General of BRICM, highlighted two benefits of the spray. First, it can kill the virus in close contact with COVID-19 patients; second, it helps to reduce the viral load of the patients.

"the virus attacks through mouth, eyes and nose and stays in these organs for some time. If sprayed after 3-4 hours, our solution can eliminate the virus in the nose, nasal cavity, oral cavity and those at the joint of respiratory digestive tracts,” She added .

Although the Bangasafe Nasal spray has proven safe in small trial , it will need  to trail in large number of people . Then it can be approved to use .

Indian Man Marries 2 Women At Same Time In The Same Place .

Chandu and his two wives Haseena and Sundari

A man called Chandu Maurya in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar married two women at the same time, in the same mandap. The marriage which took place on January 5, was attended by about 600 people and has since, become talk of the town.

The romantic affair started three years ago, when Chandu Maurya, a farmer and labourer of a remote village of  Bastar district of Indian State Madhya Pradesh  fell in love with 21-year-old tribal girl Sundari Kashyap. Their romance blossomed over phone calls and the couple decided to get married. Meanwhile  a year later, Chandu fell in love again with Haseena , whom he met at a relative’s marriage.

Haseena and Sundari  both the brides have passed their 12th standard examinations. 

However, Chandu Maurya decided to marry the two girls after the villagers started questioning him over the "live-in relationship". "Fed-up with the questions, I decided to marry both of them because they both loved me. I can’t betray them. They agreed they both will live with me forever,"

This kind of marriage is a crime in the Hindu Marriage Act. However, no case has been registered against it.

Bangladesh Approves Coronavirus Vaccine of Oxford - Astrazeneca For Emergency Use

After United Kingdom and India ,Bangladesh  government has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use to be imported from Serum Institute of India.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) is the local manufacturer of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) issued the approval on Monday evening, according to media reports.

As per contract, the country will receive the first shipment a month after the approval and the payment. The government has to count US Dollar 5 for each dose.

After the UK authorized the Oxford Astrazeneca  vaccine on Wednesday, India’s drug regulator on Friday approved the vaccine for emergency use. The Bangladesh government also on Monday gave emergency use approval for the vaccine. 

In December last year, India promised to provide Bangladesh with 30 million doses of the “Covishield” Covid-19 vaccine once it is ready by January this year. The assurance came during the first-ever virtual summit between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.

Serum Institute is supposed to provide 5 million vaccine doses per month to Bangladesh for six months through Beximco.

 

 

India Approves Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine .

 India has given a green light for emergency use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine COVISHIELD for emergency use.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), whose experts were meeting on 1st January 2021 Friday for the second time this week came to the decision that paves the way for a near-immediate start to the inoculation process, according to Reuters.

Britain last week approved the emergency authorisation of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the country.  

Cheaper and easier to distribute than rival vaccines, the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is by far the most significant in the global fight against the novel coronavirus. Unlike the two messenger RNA vaccines by US firms Pfizer and Moderna, this vaccine could be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures of between two and eight degrees Celsius. The Moderna vaccine needs to be stored at Minus 20C, while the Pfizer/BioNTech product must be kept at Minus 70C. It will be priced as little as $3 per dose.

Researchers claimed the vaccine protected against disease in 62% of those given two full doses and in 90% of those initially given a half dose.

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) could also approve a vaccine locally developed by Bharat Biotech, Reuters reported. The Drugs Controller General of India will take the final decision on emergency approval of coronavirus vaccine in India based on expert committee's recommendations.