Experts are trying to find out as to how the tourists could become so convinced of a post-pandemic hazard-free situation. But then, when it comes to the people of Bangladesh, they do not care a fig about what health authorities say about hygiene and disease controls. Moreover, many of the people now crowding the Cox’s Bazar, Patenga and Kuakata beaches presumably do not read newspapers regularly. They are, thus, unaware of the resurgence of Covid-19 in Bangladesh. On the other hand, lots of people feel encouraged to visit the beaches after watching the TV grabs of the revelling beach-going people. In short, the pandemic-time tours have lately reached a dreadful level in the country. With the people in general flouting the government-enforced health guidelines, the situation is feared to revert to its earlier dreadfulness. Last time, the government tried to cope with the situation by imposing a ‘shutdown’, restricting the movement of people on roads. In was accompanied by the compulsory wearing of masks while on foot. Tours remained banned in the beginning phase of the pandemic. All tourist spots were declared shut. In the phase of the pandemic’s resurgence different types of troubling scenes dominate the whole spectacle. A common feature stands out among these sights: an anathema for maintaining health protocols, the premier of them being wearing of masks and maintaining physical distance.

The scenes of hysteric tourists jostling with one other or idling on the beaches, many frolicking at hilly streams in the other tourist sites point to a self-invented reverie: the country is now free of the pandemic. Their belief may have been strengthened by the people rushing to vaccination centres to have them inoculated against Covid-19. The irony is many tourists are least bothered about being vaccinated. They might be thinking large numbers of people getting vaccinated across the country would weaken the ferocity of the pandemic.

These wishful thoughts and the following mindless activities are feared to snowball into a nightmare. The initial stage of it may witness people in large numbers transmitting the virus and getting infected. After all, from presidents and prime ministers, the kings and queens and the royals to the business tycoons — few are spared by Covid-19. At the mundane level, those who do not break away from their devil-may-care lifestyle can hardly escape the pandemic’s wrath. The present situation in Bangladesh regarding Covid-19 is one filled with both ignorance and wilful defiance. Developments like this prompt the authorities to go tough. It’s because the noncompliance of a few small communities with health guidelines, like physical distance, puts the majority to hazards like being in the path of the ongoing pandemic. At one point of time, the governments bound by constitution to stand by people in their times of distress find themselves with only one option — application of the extreme measure. In the times of the resurgent pandemic of Covid-19, the Bangladesh administration may have no other options before them except enforcing a ‘complete lockdown’.

The Bangladesh situation is unique on many counts. At times, the focus finds itself limited to no single area. Thus the crowded tourist spots eventually fade out in the face of the emergence of other areas of human assemblages. Those spots remain blatantly exposed in the big cities like Dhaka. To many middle and lower-middle class people, the earlier shutdown was a period of staying home as if on a months-long holiday. Storerooms were filled with food items like rice, pulses or potatoes. Going out on the roads without convincing reasons, however, came under prohibition. Plying the roads was off-limits to public transports like buses, taxis etc. Private cars were largely banned. These moderate restrictive measures, in fact, helped create the holidaying mood at the average middle-class homes. It was the people dependent on their daily income who bore the brunt of the shutdown.

In fact, all the urban areas, including Dhaka, nowadays appear to be carousing spots for various strains of the Covid-19 virus. Due to their movement in a sprawling area, people’s congestion doesn’t become prominent. The presence of large numbers of people milling around within narrow confines emerges with all its pandemic-time dreads. A highly troubling feature singling out the tourist spot-centred people is they might be, unwittingly, transmitting the pandemic virus to the vulnerable. The new carriers eventually take the viral scourge to their acquaintances back in their neighbourhoods. On being infected after the incubation period, these groups help in the spread of the virus among large segments of people in different areas. Apart from crowded tourist spots, congested marketplaces also spread the pandemic in almost the same manner. There are fears of the authorities clamping down on the crowded tourist spots — leading to fresh closures. It may or may not have links to Dhaka being under a lockdown. Tourism hit by pandemic-time intermittent closures has already become a global new normal.

The Department of the Environment has issued a public notice declaring the island an ‘environmentally critical’ area.

St. Martin’s rare environment and biodiversity are on the verge of destruction due to uncontrolled tourism and unawareness, irresponsibility and anti-environmental behavior of tourists, the statement said.

In order to preserve the island, including the restoration of the environment and rare biodiversity, the Department has imposed certain restrictions on travel to St. Martin under Section 4 of the Environmental Protection Act 1995 (Amended 2010).

The requirement will come into effect on Dec 5, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB). Consequently, no Bangladeshi or foreign airlines will be allowed to fly in any passenger without a medical certificate.

The CAAB directive, signed by Group Captain Chowdhury Md Ziaul Kabil, said all passengers must be tested for the coronavirus in a PCR lab within 72 hours of their arrival in Bangladesh. They will only be allowed entry into Bangladesh if the result is negative.

Upon arrival, all passengers will undergo screening and have their body temperature checked at the airport. Regardless of the medical certificate, if a traveller displays any symptom of the coronavirus, they will immediately be taken to a designated hospital for tests and treatment before being sent to an isolation centre.

Meanwhile, those who do not have any symptoms will be required to go home and self-quarantine for 14 days.

According to the directive, Bangladeshi workers, who have a BMET clearance card, will be able to return to the country with an antigen or any other acceptable test certificate if the PCR testing system is not readily available in their country of employment.

Diplomats stationed in Bangladesh and their family members must also get their samples tested at a PCR lab within 72 hours of travel and produce the report on arrival.

Foreign entrepreneurs and investors, too, are required to carry a medical certificate to enter Bangladesh. If they do not show symptoms at the airport, and intend to stay in Bangladesh for less than 14 days, they will be allowed to leave the country without any isolation requirements.

But if they have symptoms of the virus, they will be sent to isolation centres and hospitals for further testing and treatment.

In addition to ensuring physical distancing norms are followed by airport official, all passengers, crew and aircraft have also been instructed to carry out the disinfection process properly.

The directive will take effect on Dec 5 for flights to Bahrain, China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has collected Tk 360 million in travel tax during the July-September (Quarter 1) period as against Tk 3.40 billion in the same period last year, according to NBR data.

Earlier, the NBR set the target of travel tax collection for Q1 at Tk 2.42 billion.

For fiscal year 2020-21, the target for travel tax collection from outbound passengers has been set at Tk 14.57 billion.

In the previous fiscal year, the NBR collected Tk 7.67 billion in travel taxes from passengers travelling by land, water and air.

AKM Badiul Alam, commissioner of the Tax Zone-1, which is responsible for collecting travel taxes, said tax collections have declined significantly as many countries imposed travel restrictions in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

The travel ban has led to the drastic fall in the number of outbound passengers, resulting in the negative growth of travel tax collections, he added.

Recently, some countries, including England and France, have again imposed lockdown for the second time to deal with the second wave of coronavirus.

Monsur Ahmed Kalam, president of the Association of the Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB), said around 95 per cent of overseas travellers could not move out in the last six or seven months.

Most airlines have suspended their operation while many countries also suspended the issuance of visas to tourists amid the pandemic, he said.

Although tourists started travelling to Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban inside the country, they don’t have to pay travel taxes, he added.

Md Rafeuzzaman, president of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB), said no outbound tourists went out of the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, the tour operators are now passing through difficult times, he added.

The Association has some 700 members.

Until September 1, 2020, some 113 destinations have imposed certain restrictive measures on travellers, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

It has also found that 50 per cent of the global destinations are easing the restrictions.

It said the destinations which have eased travel restrictions generally have high or very high levels of health and hygiene infrastructure. They also tend to have comparatively low Covid-19 infection rates.

Some 93 destinations (43 per cent of all worldwide destinations) continue to have their borders completely closed to tourism, of which 27 have had their borders completely closed for at least 30 weeks.

Some 68 destinations, including Bangladesh, have partial closure of border while medical certificate before, upon and after is required in 35 destinations, the UNWTO report said.

Outbound passengers generally pay their travel taxes with their ticket price.

Outgoing international passengers have to pay travel taxes ranging between Tk 500 and Tk 800 while travelling by land and water.

On the other hand, air passengers have to pay between Tk 800 and Tk 2,500 as travel taxes depending on their destinations.

The NBR has launched an online travel tax collection system for outbound passengers travelling to India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar by land.

The travellers can pay taxes online using debit or credit cards of any bank through the Sonali Bank online payment gateway system.

Outbound passengers can also pay travel taxes through mobile financial services, including Bkash, Rocket and UCash.

According to NBR data, travel tax collections from outgoing international passengers stood at Tk 11.04 billion in FY 2018-19.

Only around 12 per cent of total travel tax comes from passengers travelling by land, while the rest 88 per cent from air passengers as the rate of travel tax for them is several times higher than the rate for those travelling by land.

Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad gave the information while inaugurating AC bus service on Sylhet-Tamabil-Jaflong route on Saturday, reports UNB.

“Many people will get employment opportunities centring the tourism business in Sylhet”, he hoped.

“Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until June 30, 2021”, an Amazon spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Tuesday, adding the guidance is applicable globally.

Amazon had earlier allowed that option until January.

The development comes less than three weeks after the world’s largest online retailer said more than 19,000 of its U.S. frontline workers contracted the coronavirus this year.

Some staff, elected officials and unions in recent months have said that Amazon put employees’ health at risk by keeping warehouses open during the pandemic.

“We have invested significant funds and resources to keep those who choose to come to the office safe through physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and by providing face coverings and hand sanitizer,” the Amazon spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

In May, Twitter Inc became the first major tech company to allow employees who can work remotely to do so indefinitely.

Other tech giants have extended the work from home option for their employees with Microsoft Corp saying earlier this month it will let most employees work remotely for up to half their weekly working hours.

Facebook Inc had said it would allow its employees to work from home till July next year, while Google had extended the remote working period for employees who do not need to be in the office till June.

The company added 2.2 million paid subscribers globally during the quarter that ended Sept. 30, missing Wall Street’s target of 3.4 million and its own forecast.

Earnings per share also landed below analyst expectations at $1.74. The consensus forecast was $2.14, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shares of Netflix, one of the biggest gainers this year as people stayed home amid the pandemic, dropped nearly 6% to $494 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

“Domestic subscribers were nearly flat, which highlights Netflix’s saturation in the U.S.,” said Ross Benes, analyst with eMarketer. With domestic additions slowing, revenue growth will likely come from price increases, he said.

The company reported a blockbuster quarter at the start of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, adding 15.8 million paying customers from January through March.

Netflix had warned investors that a sudden surge in new sign-ups would fade in the latter half of the year as COVID-19 restrictions eased. Netflix forecast in the fourth quarter it would bring in 6 million new subscribers around the globe, short of the 6.51 million that analysts expected.

The streaming video pioneer is trying to win new customers and fend off competition as viewers embrace online entertainment. During the third quarter, Netflix released “Emily in Paris”, “Enola Holmes” and “The Devil All the Time.”

Netflix acknowledged that competition was increasing as studios across Hollywood from Walt Disney Co to AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia have restructured to compete more directly for video subscribers.

“Competition for consumers’ time and engagement remains vibrant,” Netflix said in a letter to shareholders.

In recent months, major sports resumed play and nascent streaming services, including AT&T’s HBO Max and Comcast Corp’s Peacock, offered audiences new options.

Netflix said its results reflected the fact that it saw such a big surge in customers early in the year.

“We continue to view quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in paid net adds as not that meaningful in the context of the long run adoption of internet entertainment, which we believe is still early and should provide us with many years of strong future growth as we continue to improve our service,” the company said.

Netflix officials noted the company had pulled in more subscribers in the first nine months of 2020 than in all of 2019. It ended the third quarter with 195.2 million global streaming customers.

“Next time we get together, we should be over 200 million members, completing a year of 34 million (additions),” an annual record, Co-Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in an analyst interview.

The company also said it expected to complete shooting over 150 productions by the end of the year and that it would release more original programming in each quarter of 2021 compared with 2020.

Revenue rose 22.7% to $6.44 billion in the third quarter, edging past estimates of $6.38 billion.

Net income rose to $790 million, or $1.74 per share, in the quarter from $665.2 million, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier.

Preliminary referendum results showed 65.2% of voters supported the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force as a new law.

It will allow terminally ill people, with less than six months to live, the opportunity to choose assisted dying if approved by two doctors.

For its opponents the law lacks adequate safeguards.

The results announced on Friday do not include an estimated 480,000 special votes, including overseas ballots, so the final outcome will not be confirmed until 6 November. But with such strong support, the decision is not expected to change.

The referendum is binding and the new law is expected to come into effect in November 2021.

It will see New Zealand join a small group of countries, including the Netherlands and Canada, which allow euthanasia.

The referendum on assisted dying was held alongside the general election earlier this month. In a separate non-binding referendum held at the same time, New Zealanders narrowly rejected a proposal to legalise recreational cannabis.

The preliminary results on the cannabis vote was 53.1% no and 46.1% yes – though this result may be subject to change when the special votes are counted.

What has the reaction been?

The “yes” verdict had been anticipated after polls suggested strong public support for the law, which was also backed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the opposition leader, Judith Collins.

But it was the result of an emotional, years-long campaign with strong views on both sides of the debate.

For Matt Vickers, who took on his late wife Lecretia Seales’ fight to legalise assisted dying, the result is “a victory for compassion and kindness”.

“I am grateful that terminally ill New Zealanders will have a say about the ends of their lives,” he told the BBC after the announcement.

Ms Seales was a lawyer who launched a legal challenge for the right to end her life with medical assistance after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. But her case was unsuccessful and she died of her illness five years ago, aged 42.

Mr Vickers pressed on with her campaign and in 2016 his book, “Lecretia’s Choice: A Story of Love, Death and the Law”, was published.

The day before the result Mr Vickers told the BBC that ultimately his late wife’s goal was for terminally ill people “to have a choice”.

“She didn’t want to die. No one does. That’s a popular misconception. The problem was the choice to live had been taken away,” he said. “She wanted a choice on how death happens so if things got bad she could end the suffering at the time she wanted.”

What is the new law?

The End of Life Choice Act was passed by parliament in 2019 after years of heated parliamentary debate and a record number of public submissions.

But there was a proviso that it would first be put to a referendum, only coming into force if more than 50% of voters ticked “yes”.

There are a number of criteria a person must meet to ask for assisted dying. These include:

suffering from a terminal illness that’s likely to end their life within six months
showing a significant decline in physical capability
being able to make an informed decision about assisted dying
The legislation authorises a doctor or nurse to administer or prescribe a lethal dose of medication to be taken under their supervision if all the conditions are met.

The law also says a person cannot be eligible for assisted dying on the basis of advanced age, mental illness, or disability alone.

Which countries allow euthanasia?

The referendum result in New Zealand will be closely watched by advocates for and against assisted dying throughout the world.

By voting “yes” the country is joining a small group of nations and territories that have passed similar legislation.

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, while assisted suicide is permitted in Switzerland.

A number of states in the United States and the Australian state of Victoria have also made assisted dying legal.

Euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life to relieve suffering, while assisted suicide is the act of deliberately assisting another person to kill themselves. In contrast to euthanasia and assisted suicide, assisted dying would apply to terminally ill people only.

Source: BBC

Of the total patients, 3,21,281 recovered, with 1,548 made recovery in the last 24 hours.

The daily count came from test of 14,268 samples in the past day. As of today, the number of total sample test stood at 23,10,589.

However, the country today reported 25 more deaths from the deadly virus, taking the tally to 5,886.

Bangladesh first reported its COVID-19 cases on March 8. Since then the country has been struggling to limit spread of the highly contagious virus.

Coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, and then spread to newer countries and territories.

As of Thursday, the epidemic infected 44,843,380 people and killed 1,180,352 across the globe, according to Worldometer, a website which compiles number of new coronavirus cases and deaths from it.

However, total number of people who recovered from the coronavirus pandemic reached 32,772,479 across the world.

Turkish anger at the caricature added fuel to a row between Turkey and France about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, which flared after a teacher who had shown pupils the cartoons in a lesson on freedom of speech was beheaded in France this month.

“We strongly condemn the publication concerning our President in the French magazine which has no respect for any belief, sacredness and values,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin wrote on Twitter, reports Reuters.

“They are just showing their own vulgarity and immorality. An attack on personal rights is not humour and freedom expression,” he said.

The cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo, showed Erdogan sitting in a white T-shirt and underpants, holding a canned drink along with a woman wearing an Islamic hijab.

Turkish presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun said “Macron’s anti-Muslim agenda is bearing fruit!”.

“We condemn this most disgusting effort by this publication to spread its cultural racism and hatred,” Altun wrote on Twitter.

Erdogan sharply criticised Macron at the weekend, saying the French leader needed a mental health check, prompting France to recall its ambassador from Ankara. On Monday, Erdogan urged a boycott of French products. [nL8N2HH3MN]

The Prophet Mohammad cartoons, considered blasphemous by Muslims, have been displayed in France in solidarity and Macron has said he would redouble efforts to stop conservative Islamic beliefs subverting French values, angering many Muslims.