20-05-2020

wednesday

DhaKa: May 20, 2020; Jaistha 6, 1427 BS; Ramadan 26,1441 hijri

www.thebangladeshtoday.com; www.bangladeshtoday.net

Regd.No.Da~2065, Vol.17; No.82; 8 Pages~Tk.8.00

international

Trump says he’s taking

malaria drug to

protect against virus

>Page 3

health

Precautions to take

when you’re back

to office

>Page 5

sport

Live with Tamim :

Consistent training, diet

key to success: Virat Kohli

>Page 6

Coronavirus

Govt announces

special assistance

for journalists

DHAKA : Information Minister Dr

Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said that a

special assistance programme has been

announced for journalists who are having

a hard time because of the coronavirus

outbreak. The minister made the

announcement after a meeting of

Journalist Welfare Trust at the conference

room of the ministry, reports UNB.

It has also been decided who will get

support. Journalists, who lost jobs

recently, been unemployed for six

months or not getting salary for a long

time, will get Tk 10,000 one-time emergency

assistance, said Hasan Mahmud.

Mentioning that many journalists

have been in trouble as well as other

professions during the crisis, he said

they raised the issue to Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina for financial assistance

to journalists.

"Following her instruction, decision

was taken today to help journalists

from a special fund," he said.

The journalist leaders and the union

will decide who will get the help according

to fixed criteria, he added.

The minister said that this welfare

trust was established in 2014 by Prime

Minister Hasina. Since its inception,

1,167 journalists received Tk 9.69 crore

help from the trust.

Coronavirus

RMC launces

2nd PCR lab

RAJSHAHI : Rajshahi Medical College

Hospital has launched its second

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing

labfor detecting COVID-19 infection,

reports UNB.

"The lab was formally inaugurated in

the afternoon by testing 40 samples,"

said RMCH deputy director Saiful

Ferdous. He said the lab has started its

journey with a PCR machine which has

the capacity to test 94 samples simultaneously.

Given the current situation, he

said they have a plan to test 188 samples

in two shifts a day.

Coronavirus hits

Bangladeshi freelancers,

outsourcing sector hard

DHAKA : When coronavirus spread to

developed countries and led to the shutdown

of many companies, freelancers

and outsourcing companies in

Bangladesh started feeling the pinch as

work orders fell drastically, leaving

many without a job, reports UNB.

"Around 80 percent freelancers are

now out of work," said Bangladesh

Freelancers Development Society

(BFDS) General Secretary Mahfuzur

Rahman.

Bangladesh supplies 16 percent of the

total online workers, the second highest

after India which provides 24 percent,

according to 2017 Online Labour Index

of Oxford Internet Institute.

Rapid digitalisation spurred the

growth of this sector and insiders say

many youths now opt for freelancing,

outsourcing and e-commerce.

South Asian Network on Economic

Modeling (SANEM) said the informal

sector employs around 89 percent of

the total employed youths in

Bangladesh and disruption of economic

activities due to the pandemic is

DHAKA : The National Economic Council

(NEC) on Tuesday approved the Annual

Development Programme (ADP) involving

Tk 205,145 crore for the 2020-21 fiscal year

with focus on transport, education, health and

agriculture sectors, reports UNB.

The final approval to the ADP was given at

an NEC meeting held at its conference room.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who joined

the meeting from her official residence

Ganobhaban through videoconferencing,

presided over it. Planning Minister MA

Mannan said an amount of Tk 9,466 crore

has been allocated for autonomous entities

and the whole size of the ADP will be Tk

214,611 crore with this amount.

Of the Tk 205,145 crore, an amount of Tk

134,643 crore will come from internal

sources while Tk 70,502 from foreign

sources. Of the Tk 9,466 crore of the

autonomous entities, the internal sources

will provide Tk 5,578 crore while the foreign

portion will be Tk 3,888 crore.

He said the number of the total development

projects for the next fiscal year will be

1673, including 89 projects for autonomous

entities. Under the ADP, there will be 1584

projects and 1,456 of them are investment

affecting 20 million youths.

Stakeholders said the government

should give financial aid to workers

who have lost jobs.

BFDS' Mahfuzur said Bangladesh has

600,000 freelancers. "We'll have a billion

dollar market in future. So, the government

has to bring a basic change

through a proper planing and support

the workers," he said, demanding inclusion

under the stimulus packages for

Small and Medium Entrepreneurs.

The International Monetary Fund

said the world was facing the worst

recession since the Great Depression in

the 1930s. Bangladesh shut down all

non-essential sectors as it imposed a

countrywide shutdown to prevent the

spread of coronavirus.

The pandemic disrupted the global

supply chain and forced countries

around the world to initiate lockdown.

Factories and companies were shut and

millions have been left jobless.

Kamruzzaman, senior image editor of

CutOutWiz Ltd, said they are passing

through a very difficult time.

NEC approves ADP involving

Tk 205,145 cr for new FY

projects, 127 technical assistance projects

while another is a JDCF-financed one.

Transport sector will get Tk 52,183 crore

(25.44 pc) while infrastructural planning,

water supply and housing Tk 25,795 crore

(12.57 pc),power sector Tk 24,804 crore

(12.09 pc), education and religion Tk 23,390

crore (11.40 pc), Science, Information and

Communication Technology Tk 18,448

crore (8.99 pc), rural development and rural

entities Tk 15,555 crore (7.58 pc), health,

population and family welfare Tk 13,033

crore (6.35 pc), agriculture Tk 8,383 crore

(4.09 pc), water resources Tk 5,527 crore

(2.69 pc) and public administration Tk

4,048 crore (1.97 pc).

Local Government Division will get the

highest allocation of Tk 31,131 crore followed

by road transportation and highways division

Tk 24,825 crore, Power Division Tk 24,804

crore, Science and Technology Ministry Tk

17,389 crore, Railways Ministry Tk 12,491

crore, Health Service Division Tk 10,054

crore, Secondary and Higher Secondary

Division Tk 9,865 crore, Primary and Mass

Education Division Tk 9,404 crore, Bridges

Division Tk 7,973 crore and Water Resources

Ministry Tk 6,269 crore.

As part of highest preparation of tackling the super cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’, local administration

of coastal areas has started work.

Photo : Star Mail

Pay salaries, bonuses

to workers before

Eid : Kamal Ahmed

to factory owners

DHAKA : State Minister for

Industries Ministry Kamal Ahmed

Majumder on Tuesday urged the

factory owners including those of

RMG factories to pay worker's

salaries and bonuses before Eid.

Besides, if any worker is infected

with coronavirus, he/she should

be given proper treatment, said

the state minister after distributing

Eid gifts among poor people at

Adarsha High School premises of

Mirpur-10 in the capital, reports

UNB.

The factories which have been

kept open during the general holidays

have to follow 31- point

guidelinesgiven by Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina and the directives

of the Health Ministry.

Production has to be continued

maintaining health and social distancing

rules, he added.

Kamal said that the government

is working restlessly to alleviate

the sufferings of the poor people

duirng the crisis.

The government has taken

many programmes like cash distribution

among 5olakh poor people

to help the poor, he said.

Dr Samir for genome

sequencing of more

coronavirus samples

DHAKA : Prof Dr Samir Kumar Saha,

Executive Director of Child Health

Research Foundation (CHRF) that

came in the limelight following the

genome sequencing of novel coronavirus

for the first time in Bangladesh,

has stressed the need for the genome

sequencing of its more samples to find

out the dominant strain and know

about the local mutation to this virus,

reports UNB.

The sequencing of a good number of

samples will help develop an effective

vaccine for the country's dominant

strain and other strains of the coronavirus

in the future, he said in an interview

with UNB.

A CHRF team, led by scientist Dr

Senjuti Saha, also daughter of Prof

Samir Saha, unveiled the whole genome

sequencing of novel coronavirus

(SARS-CoV-2) for the first time in

Bangladesh on May 12 last. The entire

sequencing work was conducted at the

CHRF laboratory in Dhaka.

The foundation has an aim to

sequence more samples from different

locations of Bangladesh to better understand

the spread and transmission patterns

of COVID-19 in the country.

"We'll conduct more research works

on it. Though we're a small organisation

and working with a small machine, our

ambition is very high," said Prof Samir

Saha, also a professor at the

Microbiology department of Dhaka

Shishu Hospital. Talking about the

recent success, he said they sequenced

the coronavirus sample while going to

conduct COVID-19 test after the government

asked their foundation to do so

as part of ramping up coronavirus testing

gradually in the country.

"The genome sequencing of coronavirus

is our byproduct. That means we

did it in extra time while doing another

work. We work with the government

though we're a private organisation.

When the government expanded

COVID-19 testing gradually, we were

also given the responsibility to conduct

testing," he said.

Then the CHRF started getting many

samples of different places and was

sending the reports to the government

after those were tested. "At the same

time, we preserved some specimens. It's

also our responsibility," he added.

The CHRF got the sample, which was

sequenced, from a person on April 18,

said Dr Samir without giving further

details about the person.

Ramadan Iftar Sehri

27 ---- 03:45 am

28 06:40 pm 03:44 am

29 06:41 pm 03:43 am

03:50 AM

Zohr

12:10 PM

04:45 PM

06:45 PM

08:00 PM

5:14 6:36

Ferry movement on Shimulia-Kathalbari route has been suspended over storm ‘Amphan’. The waiting

people seen to cross the river.

Photo : Star Mail

COVID-19: Bangladesh reports 21 more

deaths, 1251 new cases in 24 hrs

DHAKA : Bangladesh saw another big

jump in coronavirus cases with the

detection of 1,251 more patients in a

span of 24 hours, raising the total number

of cases to 25,121, reports UNB.

The fast-spreading contagious disease

also claimed 21 more lives during the

period, pushing up the national tally to

370. Additional Director General of the

Directorate General of Health Services

(DGHS) Prof Dr Nasima Sultana came

up with the fresh figures at its daily

online briefing. In the last 24 hours, she

said, 42 coronavirus testing laboratories

across the country tested 8,449 samples.

Dr Nasima also said 408 coronavirusinfected

people fully recovered in the

country during the last 24 hours.

"Among the 21 victims who lost their

lives, 13 died in hospitals across the

country, three at home and five were

declared brought dead at hospitals," Dr

Nasima said. She mentioned 16 of the

deceased were aged above 40. "If

weanalyse their age distribution, one of

the deceased was aged between 11 and

20, two between 21 and 30, two between

31 and 40, five between 41 and 50, five

between 51 and 60, four between 61 and

70 and two more between 71 and 80

years old," Dr Nasima said. Fourteen of

the dead breathed their last in Dhaka

division, four in Chattogram division

and one each in Mymensingh, Khulna

and Barishal divisions.

"Seven died in the capital and two

more in Dhaka district, two in

Narayanganj, two in Gazipur and one in

Narsingdi. In Chattogram division, one

died in Chattogram district, two in

Cumilla and one in Chandpur. Three

others died in Sherpur, Bagerhat and

Jhalkathi districts," she said.

Dr Nasima mentioned that 4,150

more isolation beds have been set up at

hospitals in Dhaka city raising the total

number to 7,250. "Some 6,034 isolation

beds are in Dhaka division.

NEWS

WeDnesDAY, MAY 20, 2020

2

Army educating construction workers

on safety amid COVID-19

RANGPUR: Bangladesh Army

continues educating construction

workers to raise awareness on abiding

by the health directives for their safety

while working at construction sites in

Rangpur amid coronavirus (COVID-19)

pandemic, reports BSS.

Under supervision of Commanding

Officer of 9 Engineer Battalion of the 66

Infantry Division at Rangpur

Cantonment Lt. Colonel Mohammad

Tariqul Alam and its Patrol Commander

Captain ASM Sayem continues the

programme since the last week.

On Monday, Lt. Colonel Tariq and

Captain Sayem educated and trained 80

construction workers at the

construction site of the multi-storey

building of the headquarters of Rapid

Action Battalion (RAB)-13 at Uttam

Betarpara area in the metropolis.

They trained and educated 60

construction workers at the

construction site of the multi-storey

building of the Divisional

Commissioner's Office at Uttam

Betarpara area in the metropolis on the

same day.

Besides, Lt. Colonel Tariq visited the

under construction Boiragiganj Bridge

of the Department of Roads and

Highways of the 190 kilometre extended

six-lane highway from Elenga to

Rangpur under the South Asia

Subregional Economic Cooperation

(SASEC) Road Connectivity Project-II

in Mithapukur upazila here on the day.

While visiting the construction sites,

the Army team educated construction

workers and gave directives on the

necessity of abiding by the health

directives, wearing masks, gloves and

full shirts, maintaining physical distance

and washing hands to remain safe from

COVID-19 infection.

GD-763/20 (4 x 4)

GD-755/20 (12 x 4)

GD-766/20 (20 x 4)

INTERNATIONAL

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020

3

WHO bows to calls from countries

for independent virus probe

US President Donald Trump.

Photo : AP

Trump says he’s taking malaria

drug to protect against virus

The World Health Organization bowed

to calls Monday from most of its member

states to launch an independent

probe into how it managed the international

response to the coronavirus,

which has been clouded by fingerpointing

between the U.S. and China

over a pandemic that has killed over

300,000 people and leveled the global

economy, reports UNB.

The "comprehensive evaluation,"

sought by a coalition of African, European

and other countries, is intended to

review "lessons learned" from WHO's

coordination of the global response to

COVID-19, but would stop short of

looking into contentious issues such as

the origins of the new coronavirus. U.S.

President Donald Trump has claimed

he has proof suggesting the coronavirus

originated in a lab in China while the

scientific community has insisted all

evidence to date shows the virus likely

jumped into humans from animals.

In Washington on Monday, Trump

faulted WHO for having done "a very

sad job" and said he was considering

whether to cut the annual U.S. funding

from $450 million a year to $40 million.

"They gave us a lot of bad advice, terrible

advice," he said. "They were wrong

so much, always on the side of China."

Later Monday, Trump tweeted a letter

he had sent WHO Director-General

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In the

letter, Trump said "the only way forward"

is if WHO "can actually demonstrate

independence from China."

Trump said that unless WHO commits

to "substantive improvements

over the next 30 days," he will make a

temporary suspension of U.S. funding

permanent.

WHO's normally bureaucratic annual

assembly this week has been overshadowed

by mutual recriminations

and political sniping between the U.S.

and China. Trump has repeatedly

attacked WHO, claiming that it helped

China conceal the extent of the coronavirus

pandemic in its early stages. Several

Republican lawmakers have called

on Tedros to resign.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary

Alex Azar said Monday it was

time to be frank about why COVID-19

has "spun out of control."

"There was a failure by this organization

to obtain the information that the

world needed and that failure cost

many lives," Azar said. Speaking hours

after Chinese President Xi Jinping

announced China would provide $2

billion to help respond to the outbreak

and its economic fallout, Azar said the

U.S. had allocated $9 billion to coronavirus

containment efforts around the

world. Tedros said he would launch an

independent evaluation of WHO's

response "at the earliest appropriate

moment" - alluding to findings published

Monday in a first report by an

oversight advisory body commissioned

to look into WHO's response.

US President Donald Trump said Monday

that he is taking a malaria drug to

protect against the coronavirus, despite

warnings from his own government

that it should only be administered for

COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting

due to potentially fatal side effects,

reports UNB.

Trump told reporters he has been

taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine,

and a zinc supplement daily "for

about a week and a half now." Trump

spent weeks pushing the drug as a

potential cure or prophylaxis for

COVID-19 against the cautionary

advice of many of his administration's

top medical professionals. The

drug has the potential to cause significant

side effects in some patients and

has not been shown to combat the

new coronavirus.

Trump said his doctor did not recommend

the drug to him, but he requested

it from the White House physician.

"I started taking it, because I think it's

good," Trump said. "I've heard a lot of

good stories."

The White House physician, Dr. Sean

Conley, said in a statement released

through the White House press office

that, after "numerous discussions" with

Trump about the evidence for and

against using hydroxychloroquine, "we

concluded the potential benefit from

treatment outweighed the relative

risks."

The Food and Drug Administration

warned health professionals last

month that the drug should not be

used to treat COVID-19 outside of

hospital or research settings, due to

sometimes fatal side effects. Regulators

issued the alert for the drug,

which can also be used to treat lupus

and arthritis, after receiving reports

of heart rhythm problems, including

deaths, from poison control centers

and other health providers.

Trump dismissed reports of side

effects, saying, "All I can tell you is, so

far I seem to be OK."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told

CNN, "He's our president, and I would

rather he not be taking something that

has not been approved by the scientists,

especially in his age group and his, shall

we say, weight group ... morbidly obese,

they say."

Trump is 73. At his last full checkup

in February 2019 he passed the official

threshold for being considered obese,

with a Body Mass Index of 30.4.

According to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, a BMI of 40 or

above is considered "severe" obesity,

which some also call "morbid" obesity.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck

Schumer called Trump's remarks "dangerous."

COVID-19 vaccine

trial by Moderna

shows positive

early results

U.S. biotech company

Moderna on Monday

announced positive interim

clinical data of mRNA-1273,

its vaccine candidate against

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that

causes COVID-19, reports

UNB.

The results came from

Phase 1 study, led by the

National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases,

which began in Seattle in

March.

Moderna has vaccinated

dozens of study participants

and measured antibodies in

eight of them. All eight

developed neutralizing antibodies

to the virus at levels

reaching or exceeding the

levels seen in people who

have naturally recovered

from COVID-19, according

to the company.

The vaccine mRNA-1273

was generally safe and well

tolerated, with a safety profile

consistent with that seen

in prior Moderna infectious

disease vaccine clinical studies,

said the company.

These interim Phase 1

data, while early, demonstrate

that vaccination with

mRNA-1273 elicits an

immune response of the

magnitude caused by natural

infection starting with a

dose as low as 25 mcg, said

Tal Zaks, chief medical officer

at Moderna. "When

combined with the success

in preventing viral replication

in the lungs of a preclinical

challenge model at a

dose that elicited similar levels

of neutralizing antibodies,

these data substantiate

our belief that mRNA-1273

has the potential to prevent

COVID-19 disease and

advance our ability to select

a dose for pivotal trials,"

Zaks said. The Moderna

team continues to focus on

moving as fast as safely possible

to start the pivotal

Phase 3 study in July, said

Moderna CEO Stephane

Bancel. "We are investing to

scale up manufacturing so

we can maximize the number

of doses we can produce

to help protect as many people

as we can from SARS-

CoV-2."

UN envoy calls for Russia-US

talks to help end Syrian war

The U.N. special envoy for Syria called Monday

for talks between Russia and the United

States to help end the more than nine-yearold

war, saying the two major powers could

play "a key role."

Geir Pedersen's encouragement to

Moscow and Washington to take a leading

role was his first public appeal to the rival

powers on opposing sides of the conflict -

Russia which has been the key backer of Syrian

President Bashar Assad and the United

States which supports the opposition,

reports UNB.

Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council

on Monday that the three countries that

have taken the lead in arranging ceasefires

in Syria - Assad allies Russia and Iran

and opposition backer Turkey "are key

players too."

He said members of a committee from the

Syrian government, opposition and civil

society who are supposed to draft a new constitution

for the country and the 15 council

nations are key players as well.

Pedersen said there have been too many

fleeting opportunities in the past decades to

move from conflict to a political path that

were lost, and "those missed moments were

followed by renewed violence and a hardening

of positions among regional and international

actors."

"We must not repeat this pattern," he said.

Pedersen said there is anxiety that while

violence has somewhat abated at the

moment it could escalate at any time, and

deep disappointment that the political

process hasn't delivered tangible improvements

for the Syrian people.

"And there is a widespread sense that

international competition is more prominent

than cooperation, with Syrians paying

the price," he told the U.N.'s top council.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria called Monday for talks between Russia

and the United States to help end the more than nine-year-old war, saying

the two major powers could play "a key role."

Photo : AP

Magnitude 5 quake in southwestern

China kills 4, injures 23

A magnitude 5 earthquake in southwestern China has killed 4 people and injured 23,

according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, reports UNB.

The temblor in Yunnan province's Qiaojia county struck at 9:47 p.m. Monday at a

relatively shallow depth of 8 kilometers (5 miles). The U.S. Geological Survey listed the quake

at 4.5 magnitude and a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), while giving slightly different data

on the time it struck and the location of the epicenter. Such discrepancies are not unusual

given the vast distances involved. At least one house collapsed and residents said the shaking

went on for several seconds. Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage to buildings

and infrastructure.

The World Health Organization bowed to calls Monday from most of its member states to launch an

independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus, which has

been clouded by finger-pointing between the U.S. and China over a pandemic that has killed over

300,000 people and leveled the global economy. Photo : AP

Feds urge 'extreme

caution'

for reopening

nursing homes

Federal authorities are urging

governors to use

"extreme caution" in deciding

when to resume visits at

nursing homes, saying it

shouldn't come before all

residents and staff have tested

negative for the coronavirus

for at least 28 days,

reports UNB.

The Centers for Medicare

and Medicaid Services' criteria

for relaxing restrictions

at nursing homes come

more than two months after

the agency ordered homes to

ban visitors. Instead of firm

dates, it lists a variety of factors

state and local officials

should consider, such as

adequate staffing levels at

homes and the ability to regularly

test all residents and

workers.

"We're urging governors

to proceed with extreme

caution because these are

the most vulnerable citizens.

We know that nursing

homes have struggled,"

Seema Verma, head of CMS,

told The Associated Press.

Already, outbreaks in

nursing homes and longterm

care facilities have

claimed more than 33,000

lives, more than a third of all

coronavirus deaths in the

U.S., according to a count by

the AP.

The recommendations

bolster the Trump administration's

broader guidelines

that say senior care facilities

should be among the last in a

community to reopen, given

the vulnerability of their elderly

residents. And they noted

that some homes may

have to wait even longer

than 28 days from the last

negative test if they have had

problems with infection controls,

staffing or other issues.

Once visits resume, family

members and others should

still wear face coverings and

practice social distancing,

CMS said.

UN team reports new evidence

against Islamic State in Iraq

A U.N. investigative team says it has made

"significant progress" in collecting new

sources of evidence in Iraq against Islamic

State extremists, including over 2 million call

records that should strengthen cases against

perpetrators of crimes against the Yazidi

minority in 2014, reports UNB.

The team also reported progress in its

investigations of the mass killings of

unarmed cadets and military personnel from

the Tikrit Air Academy in June 2014 and

crimes committed by Islamic State extremists

in Mosul from 2014 to 2016.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council

obtained by The Associated Press, the investigative

team said it is continuing to engage

with the Iraqi government on pending legislation

that would allow the country to prosecute

war crimes, crimes against humanity

and genocide allegedly committed by the

Islamic State, also known as ISIL.

"In the coming six months, the team will

continue its work with the government of

Iraq in order to capitalize on this opportunity,

with a view to securing the commencement

of domestic proceedings based on evidence

collected by the team," the report said.

The Islamic State group's self-declared

"caliphate" that once spanned a third of both

Iraq and Syria, has been defeated on the

ground but its fighters are still staging insurgent

attacks.

The atrocities its fighters and supporters

committed have left deep scars. Thousands

of members of Iraq's Yazidi minority, mainly

women and girls, were raped and enslaved,

while men were killed. Suspected homosexuals

were pushed off roofs to their deaths.

Captured Americans and other Westerners

were beheaded, and an unknown number of

suspected opponents were killed.

A Security Council resolution backed by

more than 60 countries to refer the Syrian

conflict to the International Criminal Court

was vetoed by both Russia and China in May

2014.

The General Assembly established an

independent panel in December 2016 to

assist in the investigation and prosecution of

those responsible for war crimes or crimes

against humanity in Syria.

In September 2017, the Security Council

voted unanimously to ask the U.N. to establish

an investigative team to help Iraq preserve

evidence and promote accountability

for what "may amount to war crimes, crimes

against humanity and genocide" committed

by Islamic State extremists, both in Iraq and

the Levant which includes Syria.

The latest report by the investigative team

said that as a result of its expanded cooperation

with the Iraqi judiciary, security services

and Directorate of Military Intelligence, it

stands "at a pivotal moment in its work."

Cooperation with the Iraqi judiciary in

obtaining call data records and with Iraqi

security services in extracting and analyzing

data from cellphones, SIM cards and mass

storage devices previously used by ISIL

"have the potential to represent a paradigm

shift in the prosecution of ISIL members,"

the investigators said.

The data has provided "access to a wide

range of internal ISIL documents, cell data,

videos and images," they said.

The team said it is already identifying evidence

that can fill gaps in ongoing proceedings

as a result of the cell phone data as well

as from putting documents held by Iraqi

authorities in digital form, and using

enhanced discovery and evidence-management

systems.

In its investigation of attacks committed by

IS against the Yazidis in Sinjar district in

August 2014, the team said the recent receipt

of more than 2 million call data records from

Iraqi cell phone service providers "relevant

to time periods and geographic locations

connected to this investigation provides a

significant opportunity to strengthen case

files in relation to alleged perpetrators."

As for the investigation into the mass

killings at the Tikrit Air Academy in June

2014, the team said its work has been helped

by continuing cooperation from the Iraqi

national commission established to investigate

the crimes, including reports on the

exhumations and autopsies of victims. The

team said it has also obtained accounts from

survivors and is seeking additional call data

records.

The investigators said cooperation with

Iraqi domestic courts and non-governmental

organizations has further advanced its collection

of evidence of IS crimes in Mosul

between 2014 and 2016. Exhumations at two

mass grave sites close to Mosul that began in

March have been temporarily halted due to

the COVID-19 outbreak and "will provide a

significant focus of upcoming investigative

activity," the team said.

Looking ahead, the team said it has established

two additional field investigation units

to look into crimes committed by IS against

Christian, Kakai, Shaba, Sunni and Turkmen

Shia communities in Iraq.

EDITORIAL

WeDnesDAY, MAY 20, 2020

4

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam

e-mail: editor@thebangladeshtoday.com

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Corona threat : Bangladesh

coping effectively

Bangladesh is not new to disasters or major humanitarian crises.

Sitting astride a river delta at the bottom of the Himalayan

range, the country is fighting a longstanding battle against the

impact of climate change and currently hosts the world's largest

refugee camp along its southern border. In its 49-year existence,

Bangladesh and its people have shown tremendous resilience in

fending off not only natural disasters such as floods and cyclones but

also manmade ones, like the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2008

global financial crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is a crisis of a completely

different magnitude and one that will require a response of

unprecedented scale. Bangladesh's leaders in the public and private

sector must come together to respond to the immediate threats to

health systems and the long-term effects to the country's economy.

Bangladesh detected its first confirmed coronavirus case on 8

March. In early February, the government evacuated close to 300

Bangladeshi citizens from China. The government also installed

screening devices across its international airports and land-ports,

which have so far screened more than 650,000 arrivals, of which

37,000 were immediately quarantined.

The government also moved swiftly to transform two religious

centers into temporary quarantine facilities. In addition, after the first

case was detected, the government closed education institutions and

encouraged all non-essential businesses to move their activities

online. It initially declared a nationwide public holiday which has

been subsequently extended to May 31.

Despite the presence of a large Bangladeshi diaspora in Europe, the

government also took the bold step of suspending all flights from

Europew. Learning from its East Asian neighbors including South

Korea and Singapore, the government launched an aggressive

awareness campaign through national mobile phone operators. This

has been complemented by private-sector cooperation, with the

government launching more than 500 telephone hotlines and crosspromoting

private service providers on its platform.

In order to ensure that frontline healthcare workers have the

necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), the Bangladesh

Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) are

currently coordinatingwith five of its member companies to convert

their production lines to produce 500,000 PPEs.

The response so far is admirable, yet this pandemic also poses an

economic and humanitarian crisis. While many countries have made

good starts in stimulus packages, Bangladesh has been slower to

react. The Prime Minister initially announced an emergency

stimulus package of $600 million (equivalent to 0.2% of GDP) on 25

March, which on 4 April was enhanced significantly to $8.5 billion

(equivalent to 2.5% of GDP).

According to the forecast released by the Economist Intelligence

Unit on 26 March, the global economy is expected to contract by -

2.2% in 2020. These effects are expected to be more pronounced in

major G20 economies, such as Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom

and the US - all countries that are major markets for Bangladesh's

most vital tradeable good: readymade garments. With lockdowns

currently imposed across Europe and North America until May and

even probably June, even in the best-case scenario it will take at least

until mid-June for market confidence to be restored in these

economies. The implication is that nearly six million workers in

Bangladesh's formal sector - which is largely manufacturing - will be

without steady work for an extended period. The depressed oil prices

will also lead to a strong reversal of growth in the Middle East and

North Africa region, which is also home to a large Bangladeshi

diaspora, who send back close to $20 billion every year. In the coming

months, there can be no doubt that there will be a decrease in

remittances and that these second-degree impacts will also be felt in

the country, painfully in rural Bangladesh, where families rely heavily

on remittances for their subsistence.

The enhanced stimulus package announced by the prime minister

is commendable and step in the right direction. The package which

has nearly $2.5 billion allocation for bridge financing of the working

capital of small and medium sized industries is a bold step to protect

the livelihood of people employed in that sector. Such is the scale of

this crisis, even a stimulus package of this magnitude should be

viewed as a stopgap measure. More worryingly still, data from the

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics indicates that Bangladesh has more

than 60 million workers in the informal sector. While there will be a

significant impact on the livelihood of workers in the formal

economy, there can be no doubt that the informal sector will be hit

even harder. The prime minister was right to identify this as a

challenge and her decision to distribute food aid through

Bangladesh's existing social safety programmessuch as the

Vulnerable Group Feeding and Vulnerable Group Development for

six months must also be welcomed. The government should also

consider an unconditional cash transfer program for an initial period

of three months at a rate of $95 per month, which corresponds to the

minimum wage for the formal sector in Bangladesh. This would cost

the government roughly $14 billion, or 4% of GDP. While this sort of

cash transfer program always suffers from targeting issues,

Bangladesh enjoys a highly sophisticated mobile financial services

network, which could improve the cover of the program. A concerted

effort involving the non-governmental organizations working in the

informal sector, mobile financial service providers, and the

government could be developed to deliver this urgently needed social

assistance. Taking such an aggressive step would mean that

Bangladesh would have to forego its usually prudent and disciplined

fiscal policy of maintain its budget deficit within 5% of GDP. With a

low debt-to-GDP ratio, Bangladesh has enough fiscal headroom to

adapt an expansionary approach in the short run to fight off the

economic and humanitarian aspect of this crisis. To finance this

expansion, Bangladesh should also look to tap into the concessionary

financing available at its disposal through the multilateral

development banks. The steps on the fiscal side - the stimulus

package - must also be complemented by steps on the monetary

policy side. Bangladesh Bank has already put a freeze on loan

repayments for six months until June 2020 and relaxed foreign

exchange regulations for trade transactions until September 2020. It

has also increased the transaction limit on mobile financial services as

well as cut the monetary policy rate by 25 basis points. These are steps

in the right direction, but they are unlikely to prove aggressive enough

to fight the economic impact of a global pandemic. With inflation

expected to cool across the world, the central bank should follow the

steps taken by its counterparts across the world to inject further

liquidity by reducing the Statutory Liquidity Ratio and further

reducing its policy rate. This will not only help maintain liquidity

within the banking sector but also provide small- and medium-sized

enterprises in the country with access to cheaper working capital to

keep their businesses afloat.

By taking early steps on the health security side, Bangladesh has

been able to buy itself some time to respond to this pandemic. But the

country cannot afford to be blind-sided by the secondary economic

risks associated with this crisis. The fight against COVID-19 cannot be

carried out by the government alone. It will require an unprecedented

level of coordination between the public and private at the local and

international level. The World Economic Forum, with a mandate

from the World Health Organization, has launched the Covid Action

Platform in response to the pandemic. Bangladesh should look to tap

into this platform to galvanize support for its private sector and share

some of its own experience in fighting COVID-19 and increasing its

economic resilience.

Coronavirus is hitting the world’s

most vulnerable

How are people in conflicttorn

countries like Yemen,

South Sudan and Syria

affected by the pandemic? Crowded

living conditions and insufficient

access to water and health services

put many of them at acute risk of

infection, while lack of testing may

exacerbate the spread of the virus.

The covid-19 crisis adds new

obstacles to how over-extended

humanitarian organisations

including U.N agencies, the Red

Cross/Red Crescent movement, and

non-governmental organisations

deliver aid to those in need.

But the pandemic's effects on

humanitarian aid are likely to

extend well beyond the immediate

crisis.

Covid-19 may change the nature of

the humanitarian aid system in the

future through increasing needs and

decreasing international capacity

and resources. But this emergency

may also provide the impetus for

humanitarian donors and

organisations to innovate and to

accelerate reform efforts

Here are five ways covid-19 may

affect humanitarian aid:

1. More people will need help.

As of December 2019, an estimated

167.6 million people - 1 in 45 people

worldwide - needed some sort of

humanitarian assistance. Of these,

some 71 million had to flee their

homes and are displaced within or

outside their countries of origin.

And crises - even before the

pandemic - tend to last longer than

in the past.Covid-19 is likely to

exacerbate existing crises in places

like Burkina Faso, and northeast

Nigeria, and further tax poorly

resourced health systems in places

like Venezuela and Congo.

The pandemic is also likely to

increase the numbers of people in

need of aid as local economies

suffer, and people lose access to

remittances, livelihoods and basic

resources.

The World Food Programme

projects that the number in need of

food aid may double - to 265 million

- by the end of 2020. UNICEF warns

that shifting health resources to

Pandemic’s impact on mental wellness

a long-term issue

The coronavirus disease

(COVID-19) pandemic's

impact on mental health is

a global issue, and is likely to be

a long-term problem.

Quarantine, combined with an

unprecedented requirement to

change human social behavior,

is causing stress. At home,

between genders and

quarantined families, domestic

violence is highly problematic.

COVID-19's mental health

impact includes anxiety and

panic, financial stress, and

depression. Alarmingly, in some

surveys, the average number of

people across multiple countries

who said they felt "very

stressed" had tripled since the

lockdown began (up from 10

percent to 30 percent of

respondents). Suicides and

suicide pacts between couples

are appearing in various places

around the world.

The world's labor pool is being

affected by the pandemic.

Mental wellness is an important

part of productivity and this has

been reduced by COVID-19's

life-changing ways. With the

majority of people around the

world affected by the pandemic,

the collective level of workplace

stress, anxiety and uncertainty

is affecting productivity, which

is dropping by hours a day. It is

estimated that depression and

anxiety cost the global economy

$1 trillion per year in lost

productivity. Given the

emotional toll of the pandemic,

that figure will likely be much

higher this year.

The global reduction in force

(RIF) is resulting in uncertainty

around the world, as labor pools

undergo contraction, affecting

almost everyone in one form or

another and taxing mental

wellness. The end result of a

DR. TheODORe KARAsiK

layoff and an RIF is the same:

You lose your job, usually for

reasons out of your control.

However, there are some small

differences, including the

possibility of being rehired in

the future as the economy

rebounds. However, in some

areas of the globe - especially

crowded urban locations -

mental wellness will become an

acute issue. Outside cities,

where norms and traditions may

be different, mental wellness

may not yet be receiving the

appropriate attention.

In the past, layoffs typically

came with an expectation that

the employee might be rehired if

more work became available or

if the employer's financial

condition improved. An RIF, on

the other hand, does not come

with such an expectation,

especially during a pandemic.

Those who can adjust to the new

technological requirements of

the work-from-home concept

will be better placed than those

who cannot. Members of the

latter group risk finding

themselves out of work if their

employment evaporates and is

not replaced. This situation is

producing stress and anxiety

Chen Reis

respond to covid-19 could result in

up to 1.2 million extra deaths in

children under 5 in the next six

months.

2. Funding will be even more

tight. Even before covid-19, levels of

need around the world have been

greater than the capacity of

international humanitarian

organisations to respond. In 2019

only 63 per cent of needed funding

was available to humanitarian

organisations.

Most of this funding came from

wealthier donor countries. As of the

end of April, the US and other

countries had donated only 13% of

what humanitarian organisations

needed for 2020.

The economic impact of covid- 19

on these donor countries may lead

to a decrease in aid - including

humanitarian funding - in the near

term.

The data on the impact of previous

global recessions on humanitarian

aid are inconclusive. The

International Monetary Fund,

however, has warned that the

magnitude of the economic effects

of covid-19 will be significantly

more severe than that of recent

recessions.

3. It may be more difficult to

reach those in need. Restrictions on

movement aimed at slowing the

spread of the virus are already

preventing humanitarian agencies

from reaching populations in need.

For example, a governmentmandated

lockdown of Rohingya

refugee camps in Bangladesh

prevented 80 per cent of aid

personnel from doing their work in

the camps. Aid groups are

advocating for increased access and

reduced restrictions for

humanitarian work, and for

increased funds to safeguard

humanitarian supply chains.

4. Non-coronavirus issues

may take a back seat. As the world

turns its attention to arresting the

spread of covid-19 and caring for

people with the virus, will other

pressing humanitarian needs be

ignored? Crises, including disease

outbreaks, affect women and men

differently due to differences in

gender norms and roles, and they

exacerbate gender inequalities.

There is some evidence that

One outcome of that meeting and related processes was a

commitment to work towards giving greater power and more

resources to local organisations to shape and lead humanitarian

responses. While some countries have made progress toward

this type of "localisation," overall the summit's targets have not

been met. But the border and financial restrictions may now

result in reduced international capacity and staffing. Together

these factors may help accelerate the process of localisation.

intimate partner violence has been

increasing with the implementation

of covid-19 control measures - while

access to assistance has been

decreasing. Intimate partner

violence is the most common form

of gender-based violence in

humanitarian crises.

Research suggests that deep

gendered biases within the

humanitarian system affect what

gets funded and what is considered

urgent. One example of this is the

humanitarian response to this type

of violence.

5. Local organisations will

play an increased aid role. In 2016,

the UN convened the World

Humanitarian Summit, which

brought together humanitarian

organisations and others to help

reimagine and reshape

humanitarian aid.

that will be a great part of what

is likely to be a global economic

depression.

For those who have already

lost their jobs, the global RIF

brought about by COVID-19 is

forcing the creation of a class, if

you will, of "unemployables,"

among which many people will

be suffering mental wellness

issues. Residents of cities

around the world are

increasingly facing the same

types of stress, as well as the

ugly side of untreated mental

health issues, such as violence

The mental strain of COViD-19 is also impacting people's physical

health. And the uncertainty about when the pandemic will end - which

may be never, according to a recent comment by a World health

Organization official - is adding angst. Financial issues and job

insecurity are causing employees to feel heightened levels of stress.

Community awareness of such issues is important. Mental wellness

programs are required when training for management and leadership

positions, including on stress management and meditation.

and suicide as a result of

lockdown and the pathogen

itself. Families and children are

vulnerable and access to

counseling through telemedicine

will be critical.

The mental strain of COVID-19

is also impacting people's

physical health. And the

uncertainty about when the

pandemic will end - which may

be never, according to a recent

comment by a World Health

Organization official - is adding

angst. Financial issues and job

insecurity are causing employees

to feel heightened levels of

stress. Community awareness of

such issues is important. Mental

One outcome of that meeting and

related processes was a

commitment to work towards giving

greater power and more resources

to local organisations to shape and

lead humanitarian responses.

While some countries have made

progress toward this type of

"localisation," overall the summit's

targets have not been met. But the

border and financial restrictions

may now result in reduced

international capacity and staffing.

Together these factors may help

accelerate the process of

localisation - and there is some

evidence of this already.

The shift to greater reliance on

local groups is not without

challenges. These organisations

may lack the capacity and technical

skills to implement large-scale

humanitarian responses, and they

may not operate according to longestablished

humanitarian principles

of neutrality and impartiality - or be

equipped to meet donor reporting

requirements and other criteria.

In the short term, international

humanitarian organisations have

adjusted their relationships with

local groups to continue their

efforts during the pandemic.

This approach includes reducing

administrative barriers to funding -

which means that these

organisations have access to

funding previously unavailable to

them. It's not clear how this may

play out beyond the pandemic

response.

Crises create challenges as well as

opportunities. Covid-19 may change

the nature of the humanitarian aid

system in the future through

increasing needs and decreasing

international capacity and

resources. But this emergency may

also provide the impetus for

humanitarian donors and

organisations to innovate and to

accelerate reform efforts.

Source : Gulf News

wellness programs are required

when training for management

and leadership positions,

including on stress management

and meditation.

Understanding children's

mental wellness is also critical

as COVID-19 manifests itself in

societies around the globe. It is

important to recognize that

releasing children from

quarantine conditions is a

serious and life-changing

experience. As children return to

school, the implications of

lockdown on their mental

wellness need to be monitored

over the long term.

Nevertheless, technologies like

video conferencing tool Zoom

can help adults and children stay

connected in the lockdown

environment. Now here is the

bad and obvious news: This type

of new human existence cannot

replicate the necessary

structured and unstructured

interactions and peer

relationships that are vital for

human social and emotional

development. Children,

particularly young children,

must be around other children

for social skills and bonding

purposes. As schools reopen,

there needs to be communitybased

efforts to observe how the

students, and their parents, are

coping with these

unprecedented social and

behavioral modification

conditions. The requirement to

observe and measure mental

wellness is paramount to

managing any current or future

anxieties.

Overall, mental wellness is an

important and fundamental

aspect of today's human

security.

Source : Arab News?

HEALTH

ENVIRONMENT

Some people may be concerned about returning to work during the coronavirus crisis. Photo : Matthew Horwood

Precautions to take when

you’re back to office

Hilary Osborne

As the lockdown restrictions begin to

be eased across the world, more

workers are being asked to return to

the workplace.The government has

said that employees should only be

asked to go back if they cannot do

their job from home, so if you can,

your employer should not be asking

you to travel in to work.

If you do need to go to your

workplace, your employer is obliged

to make sure you will be safe there.

Employment lawyer Matt Gingell

says: "Employers have a general duty

to ensure, as far as reasonably

practicable, the health, safety and

welfare of all of their employees."

Here's a guide to your rights if your

employer wants you back in the

workplace."If employees are unable

to work from home, employers can

ask employees to return to work and,

technically, no notice is required,"

says Gingell.

Solicitor and consumer law expert

Gary Rycroft says there is no notice

period written into law "but giving at

least 48 hours' notice should allow

either side to have discussions and air

any concerns or even official

'grievances'". The advisory group Acas

says employers need to check if there

are any arrangements in place with

unions or similar about notice. It

advises: "Employees and workers

should be ready to return to work at

short notice, but employers should be

flexible where possible."

So while your employer could ask

you to return straight away, a good

employer would understand if there

were things you needed to put in place

first, and give you chance to do

so.When you were furloughed your

employer should have outlined what

would happen when it wanted you to

go back to work, and this may have a

clause saying that you have to return

as soon as you are asked.

"The termination of the furlough

agreement and when an employee

will be expected to return to work will

depend on the provisions of the

agreement," says Gingell. Again,

though, even if there is no notice

period, a good employer should

realise that you may need some time

to prepare.

If you have been furloughed under

the government's job retention

scheme, your employer can't ask you

to go in and do ad hoc days, or work

part-time. They would need to take

you off furlough and renegotiate your

contract with you.

Not, currently, if you have been

furloughed and they are using the

government scheme to pay you. It

only allows companies to furlough

people for all of their normal hours,

and bans them from asking you to do

any work while you are off.

But if your company has not

claimed government money to cover

your wages, it can ask you to resume

work part-time. Make sure you

understand the terms of the request -

your employer cannot adjust your

contract without your permission, so

if it is asking you to change your hours

you should get advice.

"The law here is the same as it

would be if an employer made the

same request in the normal course of

an employee's employment.

Reducing hours and/or pay are

deemed to be such fundamental

changes to an employee's terms and

conditions that the employee

concerned should be consulted and

then agree in writing," says Rycroft.

He points out that for some

employers "this may be the only

economically viable option", and the

alternative, if people refuse, could be

redundancies. To make more than 20

people redundant there will need to

be collective consultation.

No special rules have been put in

place to protect people in these

groups who are asked to go into

work but some already exist - if you

are disabled or pregnant, for

example, your employer has extra

obligations.

Rycroft says some employees may

be able to argue that it will be

discriminatory to force them to attend

work outside the home. "It is all a

question of degrees, in terms of how

the employer can show that they have

listened to legitimate concerns and

made reasonable adjustments," he

says.

If you are pregnant your employer is

obliged to make sure you can do your

job safely. This can mean allowing

you to do your job from home, or

giving you a new role which can be

done remotely. If your employer

refuses either of these options, and

you do not feel safe going into work

you should take advice.

Employmentsolicitor.com says that

you could be able to argue for a

medical suspension on full pay, which

will allow you to stay at home.

Living with someone who is

vulnerable or especially at risk is not

necessarily a reason an employee can

refuse to return to work, says Rycroft.

"However, you can, as an employee

raise a grievance and ask to be

listened to and hopefully a

compromise may be agreed, such as

unpaid leave or using up annual

holiday. But if an employer can show

that a workplace is safe, the employer

may insist on an employee attending."

Tips for first-time runner

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020

5

Lockdown intensified a veg-growing

revolution

Alexandra Topping

The lockdown has created a cropgrowing

revolution that enthusiasts

say could transform how we think

about nature, food security and our

communities.

Growing vegetables has long been

hailed as one of the most beneficial of

pastimes and an initial run on

vegetable seeds in the early days of the

Covid-19 crisis has resulted in a

bumper crop of early seedlings, which

gardeners are sharing using social

media and community groups to

spread the good news about the "good

life".

On the Isle of Wight almost 5,000

people have signed up to the Green

Island Veg Economy (Give) initiative

in the past two weeks. The concept is

simple: if you have a surplus of

homegrown seedlings or veg, leave

them outside your house for others to

take for free.

"It has just exploded," says Holly

Maslen, an artist who set up the

initiative. "In the past, gardeners

might not have bothered cropping, but

people are starting to think of others

who might not have so much or very

little space." Maslen hopes for a future

when those lucky enough to have a

garden will be able to share produce

with those who do not, making the

island more self-sufficient.

The Royal Horticultural Society has

experienced hundreds of thousands

more people looking for growing

advice on its pages compared with last

year. Views of its how to compost page

are up 500%. Local RHS groups have

taken up community-minded

activities. In Castlecaulfield, Northern

Ireland, volunteers have distributed

microgreens, while in Milton Keynes

sunflower seedlings have been given

to elderly people. In Rainham,

Havering, seeds and plant care

packages have been delivered to

residents.

Across the UK, new gardeners are

getting their hands dirty for the first

time. Carla Francome, a TV producer,

has converted her "short stumpy bit of

land covered in paving stones" in

Bounds Green into a cultivation hub.

Her local Facebook group has become

a place to share tips and seedlings.

One elderly resident who is selfisolating

had 10 cuttings delivered to

her door after making a request.

"I do wonder if I've suddenly

become 75," Francome says. "But I've

found fiddling around outside, with

the birds singing, getting fresh air and

fingers covered in dirt, is a delightful

way to spend time."

Liz Cooper used to get up at 5am to

get to her job as an investment

manager in the City, but now gets up

early so she can tend to her seedlings

before her kids destroy the peace.

The sense of achievement that

growing from seed gives is addictive,

she says. "There was nothing, and now

there is something. It satisfies a

nurturing instinct - like you get the

good bits of children without anybody

talking back at you or drawing on your

walls." In Oxfordshire, the Rose Hill

And Iffley Low-Carbon group - which

is aiming to become the first zero-CO2

estate in the country - has organised a

physically distanced seedlings share

on 6 June. In Romiley near Stockport,

residents are sharing plants and

having a sunflower-growing

competition after one resident put

packets of seeds through everyone's

door. Hannah Stephenson, who split a

peace lily she got when she left home

to share among residents, is winning.

"I do not want to use the phrase 'blitz

spirit', I don't want to hark back to a

war, but there is definitely an

increased sense of community and

sharing," she says.

And, as any long-term gardener will

tell you, the process may be exactly

what a stressed-out nation needs right

now. A Danish study in 2018 found

that 10 weeks of gardening produced

similar benefits to 10 weeks of

cognitive behavioural therapy. "There

is considerable evidence that 120

minutes' exposure to nature a week is

a key factor in maintaining positive

mental health," says Dr Alan Kellas,

It's a pleasure to get around outside, with the birds singing, getting

fresh air and fingers covered in dirt, is a delightful way to spend time.

Photo : Alicia Canter

the green care lead at the Royal

College of Psychiatrists. But he wants

the government, local authorities and

public health experts to put in place

measures to ensure everyone -

including those in high-rise flats - can

benefit from access to nature."If you

plant a seed, you think in terms of

weeks and months.

Adrian Chiles

Joggers are coming in for some stick,

what with all their droplets and ruleinfringing

pavement hogging. I feel

no anger towards them, only concern

and pity - because there are some

gaits from hell out there. Arms flail

around, above legs uncoordinated

with them; often the legs barely

coordinate with each other. They are

making it so hard for themselves and

will surely get injured. It's not their

fault; it's unlikely they've ever been

taught how to run properly.

I got into running when I was about

30. I weighed 18 stone, about three

stone of which I plainly needed to

Jog onevery day in the morning.

lose. At the time, there wasn't a lot of

this HIIT fast interval training caper

around; it was all about putting in

lots of slow, steady miles. As we all

keep saying, it is very important to

follow the science, so that is what I

did: hours and hours plodding

streets, parks, river paths, hills, fields

and mountains. After each run, again

following the science (well, my

interpretation of it anyway), I

troughed carbohydrate-heavy fare in

great quantities. My longest training

run lasted six hours. My biggest postrun

feed involved an entire

wholemeal loaf and bunch of

bananas.

My first marathon was in New

York. I romped home in several

seconds less than five hours. For a

week I couldn't get up or down stairs,

or on or off a toilet, without

assistance. In all I ran three more

marathons, running many hundreds

of miles in training, without losing an

ounce. In my last race, I beat four

Photo: Redmond Durrell

hours by all of 17 seconds; if there was

an 18 stone-plus category, I may have

been well-placed. I only eventually

lost weight by running less, and

eating a lot less, but that's another

story. Slow and heavy as I was, I still

rather fancied myself as a runner. But

then, jogging past some shops early

on a spring morning, I saw my

reflection. And what a shambles I

was, lolloping on, shoulders hunched

and head bowed. My posture is

terrible at the best of times. On a

good day, I resemble the chap in

second place on that drawing of the

five evolutionary stages of man. On a

bad day, I'm the one behind him.

While running, I was the one behind

that.

I went to see a running coach, Mike

Antoniades, who filmed me on a

treadmill. The most bizarre thing was

my arms. The left one pumped

backwards and forwards, while the

right arm pumped to and fro across

my body.

I called Mike this week and,

predictably, he is in despair at what

he is seeing out there. There is a lot

more to it than this, but I will pass on

a couple of tips. First, the arms, which

Mike says are important: "Think of

them as pistons." They should be

bent at around 90 degrees and

should pump back and forth in as

straight a line as possible, and never

across the middle of the body.

Concentrate on thrusting the elbows

backwards a good way, and the arms'

forward movement will look after

itself. It is similar for the legs: keep

them moving in a straight line and

make sure that each time a leg goes

back, the lower half (the calf bit) of it

finishes at least parallel with the

ground.

Sadly, my joints are now so

knackered from the mega-hours of

plodding I put in 20 years ago that I

can't run much these days. I am still

embarrassingly slow, as the

grandparent who overtook me

pushing a pram yesterday will

confirm, but by God, I'm good to look

at. Poetry in slow motion.

One of Dublin's temporary bike lanes.

Photo: Brian Lawless

Covid-19 prompts public spaces

cleaner and greener

Kate Connolly

The mayor of Athens has said he will

"liberate" public space from cars. His

counterpart in Paris says it is out of the

question for the city to return to precoronavirus

traffic and pollution levels.

In Berlin, 14 miles (22 km) of new bike

lanes have appeared almost overnight.

Around the world, from Dublin to

Sydney, cities are being radically

reshaped in favour of cyclists and

pedestrians as empty streets give

authorities the opportunity to

implement and accelerate large-scale

projects.Cycling advocates and

environmental activists are urging

governments to ensure the revival is

long-term and lasts beyond the

pandemic, for fear of a pushback by the

car lobby.

The Greek capital is embarking on

one of the most ambitious rejuvenation

schemes, which has been hastened by

the pandemic, according to its mayor,

Kostas Bakoyannis. He announced

plans last week to allocate 50,000

square metres of public space for

cyclists and pedestrians. At the heart of

the scheme will be a four-mile "grand

walkway" uniting archaeological sites

in the historic centre. Pavements will

be widened, boulevards

pedestrianised, squares enlarged and

traffic banned from areas beneath the

Acropolis.

Bakoyannis, who became Athens'

youngest mayor last year, openly

admits that the pandemic played a role

in accelerating infrastructure works

that might have taken years to

accomplish."We have this once-in-alifetime

opportunity and are fastforwarding

all our public works," he

said. "The goal is to liberate public

space from cars and give it to people

who want to walk and enjoy the city …

Athens will be cleaner, greener and

better lit." In Budapest, 12 miles of

temporary bike lanes have been

introduced on some of the city's busiest

roads over the past month.The city's

mayor, Gergely Karácsony, who was

elected last year on a largely green

platform, had little trouble introducing

the lanes after many people expressed

their discomfort at the prospect of

depending on the city's excellent but

usually packed public transport system

during the pandemic. The mayor's

office said it was monitoring traffic

levels and that some of the temporary

lanes may remain once life gets back to

normal. It is planning a public

consultation over where and how to

introduce more bike lanes in the

future.

Around 20 miles of temporary bike

lanes have been set up across Paris,

much to the disgruntlement of car

lobbyists who have protested to city

hall that their rights are being

squeezed. Main roads such as the Rue

de Rivoli and Rue Saint Antoine, a

major east-west route, are gradually

being sealed off to private vehicles and

there are proposals for a further 30

miles of bike lanes in the city.

Many Parisians are being offered

€50 toward getting old bikes repaired

as part of the French capital's €20m

(£18m) planvélo to encourage the use

of bicycles.Those supporting the new

push for bike travel point to recent

studies, one of which showed the

average journey by vehicle in Paris to is

2.5 miles - a comfortable distance by

bike for most - and another indicating

that the lack of exhaust fumes during

lockdown.

SPORTS

WEdNESdAY, MAY 20, 2020

6

Live with Tamim: Consistent training,

diet key to success says Virat Kohli

Attacking midfielder Havertz, reportedly a transfer target for some of Europe's biggest clubs including

Liverpool and Barcelona, was the star of the show at an empty Weserstadion. Photo: AP

Havertz stars as Leverkusen thump Bremen

Sports Desk: kai Havertz scored

twice as Bayer Leverkusen ended the

first round of Bundesliga matches in

over two months with a 4-1 win at

Werder Bremen on Monday which

moved them within a point of the top

four, reports BSS.

the visitors went into the game only

four points behind fourth-placed rB

Leipzig after their fellow Champions

League hopefuls' 1-1 draw with

Freiburg on Saturday, when the

Bundesliga became the first major

league to resume during the

GD-761 /20 (6 x 3)

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coronavirus pandemic.

Attacking midfielder Havertz,

reportedly a transfer target for some of

europe's biggest clubs including

Liverpool and Barcelona, was the star

of the show at an empty Weserstadion.

He has scored 12 goals in all

competitions this season, having netted

20 times last term.

It was Leverkusen's 10th win in 11

games, but their first since winning 3-1

at rangers in the europa League last-

16 first leg on March 12.

After a slow start to the game in an

eery atmosphere similar to the

weekend's matches, with all games

being played behind closed doors, the

encounter burst into life with three

goals in five minutes.

the 20-year-old Havertz nodded

Leverkusen into a 28th-minute lead,

before Bremen right-back theodor

Gebre Selassie levelled on the half-hour

mark.

But Havertz restored Leverkusen's

advantage three minutes later with

another header, from kerem

Demirbay's free-kick.

ICC cricket committee

dissuades use of saliva

to shine ball

SportS DeSk:

the cricket committee of the

ICC has officially

recommended that saliva

must not be used to shine the

ball in light of the health and

safety risk it poses in a world

currently inhabited by the

CoVID-19 Coronavirus,

reports Ap.

Among other important

recommendations, the Anil

kumble-led panel has also

proposed that teams be

allowed the use of an extra

DrS referral per innings in

each format on an interim

basis, while also proposing the

use of non-neutral umpires

and match referees in the

wake of the stringent border

control currently in place in

several countries.

the issue of maintaining the

ball has been a subject of

debate given the elevated risk

of the transmission of the

virus through saliva -

commonly used to shine the

ball. the technical committee

sought advice from Dr. peter

Harcour, Chair of the ICC

Medical Advisory Committee

before reaching consensus on

the proposal.

the Committee was also

apprised that it is highly

unlikely that the virus could

be transmitted through sweat

and saw no need to prohibit

the use of the same to polish

the ball. It did, however, call

for the implementation of

enhanced hygiene measures

on and around the playing

field.

there were murmurs of the

possibility of an interim use of

foreign substances to

maintain the ball -

kookaburra even mooted the

use of a special wax - but no

such leeway was provided by

the ICC.

the cricket committee also

recommended the relaxation

of the current system of

umpire and match referee

allotments for all

international games by

recommending the use of

match officials from the

participating nations.

"Given the challenges of

international travel with

borders being closed, limited

commercial flights and

mandatory quarantine

periods, the Committee

recommended that local

match officials be appointed

in the short-term," the ICC

media release stated.

the appointments,

however, will continue to be

made via the ICC from local

elite and International panel

referees and umpires. Where

there are no elite panel match

officials in the country, the

best local International panel

match officials will be

appointed.

SportS DeSk:

Indian captain Virat kohli

said consistency in training

and diet is the key to success.

He was the latest guest in the

live Facebook session with

Bangladesh oDI captain

tamim Iqbal. After rohit

Sharma, Virat was the

second Indian cricket star to

join tamim in this show,

reports UNB.

Virat is currently at the top

of the table of the best oDI

batsmen, and he is also

among the top 10 batsmen in

tests and t20Is as well.

At the start of the

conversation, Virat shared

news about the coronavirus

situation in India. He agreed

with tamim saying that both

Bangladesh and India are

struggling much to tackle the

No Serie A restart

before June 14,

says FIGC

SportS DeSk:

the Italian Football

Federation (FIGC)

announced on Monday

that all its competitions,

including Serie A, will

remain suspended until

June 14, reports BSS.

the Lega Serie A had

hoped for a return on June

13 but the FIGC has pushed

back the date in line with a

government decree that all

sports competitions be

suspended until next

month.

the FIGC said the choice

was made "pending any

further… decision by the

authorities", suggesting the

possibility of a restart on

June 13 might still exist.

the Italian season has

been on hold since March 9

amid the pandemic which

has killed more than

32,000 people in Italy.

GD-760/20 (4 x4)

GD-757/20 (5 x4)

coronavirus situation.

"It's a slow process. It was

needed to take much time to

control everything. We have

to be patient, and I think the

world will never the same.

Many things will be changed

in the coming days. We have

to follow the rules

respectfully that the

authorities are telling to do.

We cannot take it lightly,"

Virat said.

"the strong thing is when

our people see someone is

struggling with something

everyone comes up to help. I

agree that both countries

have many poor people, and

we have to help them. We

need to take care of our

migrant labourers, who are

not getting foods and basic

needs. the government is

now providing them with

GD-767/20 (5 x3)

permission to travel to their

native home," Virat added.

tamim reminded Virat

that he was a different

batsman during his early

days in international cricket

in 2009. But in the next twothree

years, he developed a

lot.

"When someone comes to

play international cricket, he

thinks how to go for a good

career, sometimes he doubts

himself. I was out of the team

after a few matches at the

start of my career. I got

another opportunity in

2009. My confidence had

started to build up right

then. When I had hit the first

century against Sri Lanka I

started to believe that I can

do it for a longer period of

time," Virat told.

the number-one batsman

insisted that mindset is the

main thing what can guide a

batsman to a good phase of

his career. He said no

batsmen should think about

his opponents much. Instead

of doing so, everyone should

set up a good mindset for a

better result.

"You will have to believe

that you can win this game

for your team. It doesn't

matter how many matches

you have played before. I

always think this way. If

someone gets out who is

more experienced than me, I

don't think that's how I can

do it for my team. I always

see it as an opportunity. If

someone fails I think I can

do it. I can always believe

that I can win the game for

my team," Virat further

added.

MISCELLANEOUS

WEdNESday, May 20, 2020

7

Boro farmers selected

through lottery

in Narail

hUMaUn KaBir, naraiL Correspondent:

a lottery has been held to collect internal

boro paddy through the Krishak app in

narail. deputy Commissioner anjuman

ara conducted the Krishak app lottery as

the chief guest at the narail sadar Upazila

parishad auditorium on tuesday.

sadar Upazila nirbahi officer salma

selim chaired the occasion while among

others, Boro paddy Collection Campaign

Member secretary and district Food

officer (acting) sheikh Monirul hasan,

Upazila agriculture officer Md. zahidul

islam Biswas, sadar aC (Land) Krishna

roy, narail sadar Food Warehouse

officer-in-Charge tarun Bala and

president of narail reporters Unity

humaun Kabir rintu were also present at

the occasion.

it was informed at the lottery function

that 6147 small farmers had applied for

sale of boro paddy in government food

warehouses. 1437 people have been

selected in the lottery. 742 medium

farmers applied, 538 were selected and 339

large farmers applied, 238 were selected.

Humanitarian

aid provided

among needy

people in

Chilmari

golam Mahbub, Chilmari

Correspondent: relief materials

have been distributed as a

humanitarian aid to the needy in

the corona affected area in

Chilmari upazila. on tuesday

morning, Md. Lutfar rahman,

former vice-president of Upazila

awami League, distributed

package relief among 100 men and

women at his own initiative at

Cinema hall mour in the upazila.

during the time, Fire service

Leader Md. golam Mostafa and

Jubo Mohila League president

anjuman ara Begum were among

others also present at the occasion.

the relief package consisted of 5

kg of rice, 2 kg of potatoes, 1 kg of

onion, 1 liter of oil and 2 packets of

vermicelli. he will provide this

relief to 200 more people in

phases.

Former MP Rubel distributes

Eid gifts among 600 helpless

families in Sreebordi

raMesh sarKar, sreeBordi Correspondent:

thousands of people from

different walks of life in sreebordi

Upazila have been left jobless due

to the deadly coronavirus. Bnp

and its allies have extended a

helping hand to all these helpless,

unemployed and disabled people.

Former Mp and sherpur district

Bnp president Mahmudul haque

rubel distributed eid gifts among

600 helpless families. ranishimul

Union Bnp convener abdur

rahman chaired the occasion

where eid gift items have been

distributed among 600 helpless

and disabled families of different

wards at tengarpara high school

playground on tuesday. these

eid gifts included rice, pulses, oil,

vermicelli, sugar and parched rice.

during the time, district Bnp

organizing secretary abu

raihan ropon, Upazila Bnp

Convener abdur rahim dulal,

Member secretary abdullah al

Mamun dulal, Joint Convener

sohanur rahman sohan,

ranishimul Union Bnp joint

conveners ahsan habib, Millat

akand, roknuzzaman Lakhu,

aBM shamim Kabir, Member

secretary shakil ahmed, Jubo

dal convener abu raihan Md

al- Beruni and district convener

of JCd Jobaidul islam rajan

were among others also present

at the occasion.

Wash Ngorik Committee

holds meeting at Betagi

Mohsin Khan, Betagi Correspondent:

a meeting of the Wash

nagorik Committee was held at

Betagi upazila in Barguna. the

meeting was held at the local

office of globe Bangladesh in

the upazila on Monday.

abdus salam siddiqui,

president of Betagi press Club

chaired the occasion while

Wash Citizens Wash Citizens

Committee vice president

freedom fighter Faruk hossain,

general secretary Lion Md.

shamim sikder, Monitoring

officer akbar hossain, project

officer tahmina akhter, tania

akhter, Member Md Mohsin

Khan and shamsul islam were

among others spoke at the

occasion.the speakers

expressed their intention to be

especially aware of the

importance of water, sanitation

and hygiene during

coronavirus pandemic.

Saree, lungi distributed among

poor people in Mirzaganj

UttaM goLder, MirzaganJ

Correspondent:

on the occasion of eid-al-

Fitr, saree and lungi has

been distributed among the

poor, helpless and

distressed men and women

in Mahishkata village of

Mirzaganj in patuakhali.

saree and lungi were

distributed among 160

people at the personal

initiative of Md. nasir

sikder, president of

amragachhia Union Jatiya

sramik League at his home

in the upazila on tuesday.

during the time, Md.

Faruk Khan, general

secretary of Upazila Jatiya

sramik League, Md.

Masum Billah Masum,

senior Vice president of

Union Chhatra League,

Md. Bashir Uddin Barek

and sultan Mahmud were

among others also present

at the occasion.

during the time, Md.

nasir sikder, president of

amragachhia Union Jatiya

sramik League said that,

under the influence of

coronavirus pandemic, i

have personally given some

eid clothes to the poor and

helpless people." We

should come forward for

them.

GD-758/20 (6x 4) GD-762//20 (7x 4)

GD-765/20 (8x 4)

GD-759/20 (8x 4)

WEDNESDAy, DHAkA, MAy 20, 2020, JAiStHA 6, 1427 BS, RAMADAN 26, 1441 HiJRi

Climate change makes repeat

'Dust Bowl' twice as likely

PARIS : Due to global warming, the

United States is today more than twice

as likely to endure a devastating "dust

bowl" scenario than during the Great

Depression, researchers said Monday.

Nearly a decade of heatwaves and

massive dust storms across the US

Great Plains in the 1930s ruined agricultural

land and drove tens of thousands

of farming families far and wide

in search for food and work, reports

BSS.

"The 1930s Dust Bowl heatwaves

were extremely rare events that we

might expect to see occur once in a

hundred years," said Tim Cowan, a

researcher at the University of

Southern Queensland in Australia,

and lead author of a study in Nature

Climate Change.

"Under today's levels of greenhouse

gases, they are more than twice as

likely to occur, with their period-ofreturn

reduced to once in around 40

years."

Even in the 1930s, the finger print of

global warming was perceptible,

although the impact on weather and

climate was then extremely small.

Nearly a century later, the signature

of human-induced climate change is

unmistakable, and portends even

more dire consequences, said senior

author Friederike Otto, acting director

of the Environment Change Institute

at the University of Oxford.

"If extreme heatwaves and drought

reduce the vegetation as they did in

the 1930s, heatwaves could become

even stronger," threatening global

food supplies, she said in a statement.

"This scenario is more likely than

ever, and should urge us to develop

and implement more ambitious adaptation

and mitigation plans."

Mitigation refers to reducing the

source of greenhouse gases, which are

produced overwhelmingly by the

burning of fossil fuels.

Otto is a world leader in the growing

field of attribution science, which uses

observational data and simulations

based on computer modelling to tease

out the impact of global warming from

natural variations in weather and climate.

Her warning is backed up by

research published in March which

shows that a multi-year Dust Bowltype

drought in the US could deplete

US grain stores and have a cascading

effect through the world's food system.

"A four-year decline in wheat production

of the same proportional

magnitude as occurred during the

Dust Bowl greatly reduces both wheat

supply and reserves in the United

States and propagates through the

global trade network," a team led by

Alison Heslin at Columbia University

reported in Frontiers in Sustainable

Food Systems.

By the fourth year of such an event,

US wheat exports would fall by half,

and the country would exhaust 94

percent of its reserves, they calculated.

The year 1936 still holds the record

for the hottest year in the continental

United States, but the country is tracking

toward ever-warmer summers.

A study last month in the journal

Science concluded that the western

United States has likely entered a period

of megadrought - the fourth in

1,200 years - that could last decades,

even a century.

Globally, 19 out of 20 of the warmest

years on record have occurred this

century.

Average global surface temperatures

- including over oceans - have

increased by about 1.1 degrees

Celsius since the pre-industrial era,

the standard benchmark for global

warming.

Garments workers blockaded road at Shamoly area of the capital city yesterday demanding their

arrear.

Photo : Star Mail

RMG workers demonstrate demanding

Eid allowance in Narayanganj

NARAYANGANJ : The workers of Fakir

Knitwears Limited on Tuesday demonstrated

in Kayempur of Fatullah

demanding their full allowance of Eid ul

Fitr, the biggest festival of Muslims.

The workers gathered at the entrance

of the garment factory around 11am and

chanted slogans demanding the arrears.

The agitation was created among

workers when the factory authorities

admitted to pay half Eid bonus, protesters

said, reports UNB.

A protesting worker said they have

worked day and night all throughout two

months amid lockdown. "We never

worked for half time, then why should

get half Eid bonus?" a worker asked.

During the movement, a vehicle carrying

Civil Surgeon and Sadar Upazila

Health and Family Planning Officer

came under attack by the workers.

Civil Surgeon Md Imtiaz said they went

to visit the factory as ten workers of the

factory were found infected by COVID-19.

They went to inspect whether the factory was

following the health safety guidelines of

World Health Organisation, he said.

"But the agitating protesters hurled

stones and vandalized our cars assuming

us to be men of garment owners leaving

two drivers injured," he said.

Superintendent of Police Jayedul Islam

said later police rushed to the spot and

brought the situation under control.

Addl police were deployed in the area to

fend-off any further agitation, he said.

COVID-19: Sample collection booth

launched in Jatiya Press Club

DHAKA : The Jatiya Press Club on Tuesday opened a booth for collecting samples

from coronavirus suspect journalists, reports UNB.

The booth, installed on Sunday in association with Brac, was formally inaugurated

at 10am today, said a press release. Dhaka Union of Journalists and Jatiya Press Club

jointly launched the service which will be available from 10am to 1pm every working

day. Members of DUJ and Press Club and their families will be allowed to avail the

service. The interested journalists are requested to register their names.

Those who will come to the Press Club for the corona test, have been asked use the

west gate for entry and exit. They would not be allowed to enter inside the club, said

the press release. The National Press Club Management Committee has made the

decision for health safety.

65-day fishing

ban in Bay begins

from Wednesday

DHAKA : The 65-day ban on fishing

in the Bay of Bengal will begin

from Wednesday, reports UNB.

The Ministry of Fisheries and

Livestock has taken all necessary

measures to implement the banfrom

May 20 to July 23, said a

handout of PID on Tuesday.

Besides, the Ministry also issued

an order in this regard and sent it

to the Bangladesh Navy

Headquarters, Public Security

Division, Shipping Ministry,

Armed Forces Division, Police

Headquarters, Coast Guard, Rab

Headquarters, Fisheries

Department, River police,

Divisional commissioners of

Barishal, Khulna and Chattogram

divisions, and 14 deputy commissioners

concerned of the coastal

belt.

In an online briefing, Fisheries

and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul

Karim on Tuesday

sought cooperation from local

administration, Bangladesh Navy,

Police, Coast Guard, Rab and River

policeto implement the restriction.

Already some 23,496.98 metric

tonnes of rice have been allocated

for the families of 4,19,589 registered

fishermen, he said.

Disinfectant tunnel has been set up in front of different markets of the capital city considering the

safety of buyers.

Photo : Star Mail

Banks to remain open

Friday, Saturday

DHAKA : Banks have been asked to

continue operation on Friday (May 22)

and Saturday (May 23) in the industrial

areas to facilitate payment of wages

to garment workers before Eid and also

continue export import activities,

reports UNB.

Bangladesh Bank gave the directive

to the banks through a circular issued

by its department off-site supervision.

The areas where banks will remain

open include Dhaka City, Ashulia,

Gazipur, Savar, Narayanganj and

Chattagram. The bank branches will

remain open from 10 am to 12:30 pm

for transaction and also up to 1 pm for

other activities on Friday while they will

operate transaction from 10 am to 2:30

pm and other activities until 3:30 pm

on Saturday, said the central bank.

Coronavirus

20 cops among 30

infected in Natore

NATORE : Thirty people including 20

policemen and an Ansar memberwere

infected with coronavirus in the last 24

hours until Tuesday morning in Natore,

reports UNB.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad

Shahriaz, said all shopping malls, markets,

and businesses were shut down

onTuesday morning.

Pharmacies andgrocery shops will

remain out of the purview of the restriction,

he added. Bangladesh has so far

reported 23,870 coronavirus cases and

349 deaths. On Monday, the health

authorities confirmed detection of

1,602 new cases and 21 deaths - the

highest single-day figure so far.

DHAKA : The super cyclone 'Amphan'

over west central bay and adjoining area

moved north-northeastwards and lies

over the same area as an extremely

severe cyclonic storm.

It is likely to move in a north-northeasterly

direction and may cross

Bangladesh coast between Khulna and

Chattogram either on Wednesday afternoon

or evening.

Under the influence of the cyclone and

the new moon phase, the low-lying

areas of the coastal districts of Satkhira,

Khulna, Bagerhat, Jhalakati, Pirojpur,

Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barishal,

Laxmipur, Chandpur, Noakhali, Feni,

Chattogram and their offshore islands

and chars are likely to be inundated by a

storm surge of 5-10 feet height of above

normal astronomical tide.

It centred at 03 pm on Tuesday about

785 km southwest off Chattogram port,

740 km southwest off Cox's Bazar port,

670 km south-southwest off Mongla

port and 665 km south-southwest off

Payra port.

The maritime ports of Mongla and

Payra have been advised to keep hoisted

Global coronavirus death

toll crosses 320,000

DHAKA : The global death toll from

coronavirus reached 320,130 as of

Tuesday morning.

The global confirmed coronavirus

cases stood at 4,890,863, according to

data provided by Worldometer.

With the confirmed cases and casualties,

the number of recovered patients is

also rising as it was 1,907,392 on Tuesday

morning which is 86 percent of the total

cases, the Worldometer data shows.

Currently, 2,663,341 confirmed

COVID-19 patients are being treated and

44,765 of them are in serious or critical

condition, reports UNB.

Coronavirus, first reported in China in

December last year, is highly infectious

and carried out by humans to over 213

DHAKA : The High Court (HC) yesterday

formed a committee to protect natural

environment, biodiversity, mother

carp fishes and dolphins in Halda river in

Chattogram.

The High Court bench of Justice

Obaidul Hassan formed the 14-member

committee headed by Chattogram

deputy commissioner after holding further

hearing virtually on a plea filed by

Supreme Court lawyer Abdul Qaiyum

Liton. The court in its order said the lawmakers

of the Halda riverbank areas will

act as advisors of the committee, which

countries and territories around the

world and two international conveyances.

The US has been the worst-hit country

with the highest number of infections

and deaths - more than 1,550,294 cases

and 91,981 deaths.

Meanwhile, Russia has come up to the

second position from infection as

290,678 people have already got the

virus while the deaths remained controlled

to 2,722 in the country.

UK has the second-highest death toll

with 34,796, Spain has the third-highest

number of confirmed cases -- 278,188.

The World Health Organization

(WHO) declared the coronavirus crisis a

pandemic on March 11.

HC forms committee to protect

biodiversity in Halda river

danger signal number seven. The

coastal districts of Satkhira, Khulna,

Bagerhat, Jhalakati, Pirojpur, Barguna,

Patuakhali, Bhola, Barishal, Laxmipur,

Chandpur and their offshore islands and

chars will come under danger signal

number seven.

The maritime ports of Chattogram

and Cox's Bazar have been advised to

keep hoisted danger signal number six.

Coastal districts of Noakhali, Feni,

Chattogram and Cox's Bazar their offshore

islands while char areas will come

under danger signal number six.

The coastal districts of Satkhira,

Khulna, Bagerhat, Jhalakati,

Pirojpur, Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola,

Barishal, Laxmipur, Chandpur,

Noakhali, Feni, Chattogram and their

offshore islands and chars are likely to

experience a wind speed up to 140-

160 kph in gusts/squalls with heavy

to very heavy falls during the passage

of the cyclone.

All fishing boats and trawlers over

North Bay and deep sea have been

advised to take shelter immediately and

will remain in shelter till further notice.

will work as per their advices.

The court also went through a report

filed by Chattogram divisional office,

Chattogram deputy commissioner, and

Raozan upazila nirbahi officer regarding

their actions taken to stop poaching on

Halda river dolphins.

Earlier on May 12, the High Court had

asked director general of Department of

Environment, director of its Chattogram

divisional office, Chattogram deputy

commissioner, and Raozan upazila nirbahi

officer to ensure none can poach on

anymore in Halda river dolphins.

'Amphan' intensifies into extremely

severe cyclonic storm

State Minister for Disaster

Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur

Rahman said the government has taken

necessary preparations to face the super

cyclone. He said 12,078 shelters have

been kept ready in 19 coastal districts.

'Amphan' will be the first supercyclonic

storm to hit the region for more

than 20 years.

In 1999, a super-cyclone hit the coast

of Odisha, killing more than 9,000 people

in India, according to The Guardian.

The super cyclone is expected to cause

heavy rains and possible flooding in

Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps, home to

more than a million Rohingyas.

Besides, the people living in coastal

regions of the country will be evacuated

to shelters by Tuesday evening, said Dr

Enamur.

This special precautionary measure

has been taken as the intensifying super

cyclone 'Amphan' is moving across the

Bay of Bengal and likely make landfall in

Bangladesh's coastal areas by

Wednesday, Dr Enamur said while

addressing an online press briefing after

a meeting of the ministry.

Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Executive Editor : Sheikh Efaz Ahmed, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.

Editorial and News Office: Bangladesh Timber Building (3rd Floor) 270/B, Tejgaon I/A Dhaka-1208. Tel : +8802-8878026, Cell : 01736786915; Fax: + 880244611604, Email: Editor : editor@thebangladeshtoday.com, Advertisement: ads@thebangladeshtoday.com, News: newsbangla@thebangladeshtoday.com, contact@thebangladeshtoday.com, website: www.thebangladeshtoday.com

20-05-2020

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