Covax will distribute 14.4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to 31 more countries next week, the WHO said as it warned people not to waste, through complacency, the hope that vaccines bring.

Nine rights organisations on Friday urged the Bangladesh government to respect and protect people’s rights to freedom of expression and to end what they said was an escalating crackdown on human rights.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the existing problems between neighbouring countries need to be resolved through discussions.

Children around the world have lost more than a third of the standard global 190-day school year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Save the Children said yesterday.

Police yesterday filed a case against nearly 300 leaders and activists of BNP and its associated bodies over Sunday’s clashes in front of the Jaitya Press Club during a protest over the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in custody.

India announced an expansion of its vaccination programme yesterday but warned that breaches of coronavirus protocols could worsen an infection surge in many states, particularly after it detected several variants.

More than 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in at least 107 countries and territories, according to an AFP count based on official sources.

Leaders of road transport associations yesterday demanded the government increase bus fares and give them financial benefits as their businesses were “hit hard by the pandemic”.

Another new Covid variant with potentially worrying mutations has been discovered in the UK.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called upon all to stay alertsaying thatbad things happen when people lead a good life and the country moves towards prosperity.

A Dhaka court placed 29 BNP men each on a two-day remand yesterday in connection with two cases filed over Saturday’s clash between BNP activists and police in front of the capital’s Jatiya Press Club.

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming yesterday said they are now in close discussion with Bangladesh regarding Covid-19 vaccine assistance.

At least 10 people, including a plainclothes policeman and a TV cameraperson, were injured in a clash between two rival groups of Bogura Awami League and Jubo League in the town’s Charmatha bus terminal area yesterday.

An independent mayoral candidate of Madaripur’s Kalkini municipality was picked up by police and then sent to Dhaka to meet a top leader of the ruling Awami League, the candidate alleged.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted Thursday that she has lost sleep over the pandemic, tossing and turning over “tough decisions” for a nation eager for relief from months of virus restrictions.

The Bangladesh Bank yesterday withdrew its executive director Shah Alam from the responsibility of monitoring two departments for his alleged connection with scammer PK Halder.

The world faces around 4,000 variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, prompting a race to improve vaccines, Britain said yesterday, as researchers began to explore mixing doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca shots in a world first.

Covid-19 vaccine nationalism is harmful for all, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday, and said weak cooperation between nations is a major barrier to achieving worldwide vaccination at the scale needed to end the coronavirus pandemic.

A one-off tax on Argentina’s richest people to help pay for medical supplies and relief for small businesses battered by the global coronavirus pandemic entered into force on Friday.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday said the conviction of lawmaker Mohammad Shahid Islam alias Kazi Papul is a matter of sadness and shame for the country.