Health Minister Zahid Maleque has requested everyone in the country to get Covid-19 vaccine booster doses as the infections are on the rise.
He was speaking to the media after a meeting with the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon.
He said: “Covid-19 cases are increasing in Bangladesh as well as in neighbouring countries, which is why everyone should take booster shots.”
“In the proposed budget, the prices of some raw materials used in manufacturing medicines have gone up. This will also affect the price of medicines,” the minister said.
The government was working to keep medicines affordable in coordination with pharmaceutical companies, he added.
Bangladesh recorded 357 new Covid-19 cases and zero deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning, taking the country's total caseload to 1,954,994, while the total number of fatalities remained unchanged at 29,131.
The daily infection rate rose to 5.76% from Wednesday’s 3.88%, with 6,200 samples tested during the period.
The country on Wednesday saw 232 Covid-19 cases with zero deaths.