Shawdesh desk:

The government has planned to bring some 1 crore people under its vaccination programme each month using 21 crore vaccine doses to be collected from different sources, said Health Minister Zahid Maleque.

The minister said this today while talking to reporters after visiting a field hospital at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).

“There’s no alternative to vaccination to prevent the Covid-19 transmission,” he said, reminding all of a looming crisis of hospital beds as Covid cases keep rising.

Seventy-five percent of the very recent patients admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka are holidaymakers who have returned from villages after Eid, said the minister.

“The number of Covid cases has increased by five to six times more following the Eid travelling,” he said.

The minister said the BSMMU field hospital opened for treating Covid patients with 1,000 beds, including 200 ICU and HDU ones, will start operation on Saturday next.

The increasing number of Dengue patients at hospitals is creating a new kind of crisis amid the risk of Covid transmission, said Zahid Maleque.

He said the government is planning to designate hospitals for Dengue treatment considering the sensitivity of the situation.