Bangladesh received 2.45 lakh doses of the AstraZeneca COVID 19 vaccines from Japan under the COVAX facility of the WHO on Saturday. The consignment was received at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka by Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen on Saturday. Dr Momen announced that another consignment of 5 lakh doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive in Bangladesh on Friday next. Japan will be providing over 30.5 lakh doses of the vaccine to Bangladesh.

Foreign Minister Dr Momen said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is important for Bangladesh as close to 15 lakh people are waiting for the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Over 58.20 lakh people had taken the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine while 42.98 lakh people took the second dose.

Meanwhile, the country entered the second day of the strict lockdown on Saturday. Most of the shops and malls in Dhaka remained closed. Roads also had very few vehicles. Similar reports about strict adherence to the lockdown are being received from other towns of Bangladesh like Pabna and Patuakhali among others.

In Dhaka, the police detained more than 400 people on Friday for violating the restrictions of the lockdown.

The COVID situation in the country remained grim with the sample positivity rate reaching a high of 32.55 percent on Saturday. A total of 195 people died due to COVID taking the death toll to 19,045.