Daily coronavirus updates to stop from Aug 12

Directorate General of Health Services's (DGHS) regular online health bulletin on the coronavirus situation in the country will no longer be available from Wednesday according to DGHS sources.

The last health bulletin will be aired online at 2:30pm on Tuesday. Coronavirus updates will be sent to the media in the form of a press release from Wednesday (August 12).

The source did not give any information as to why this decision was taken suddenly.

Earlier, the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR) organised the first briefing on the coronavirus issue in the first week of February this year. The IEDCR Director Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora herself used to give briefings. As cases increased in the country, the DGHD joined with the IEDCR in the briefing.

At the end of March, instead of Professor Flora, the Director of Management Information System of DGHS Dr Md Habibur Rahman started conducting the regular briefing.

The DGHS later decided to conduct an online briefing considering the health risks. At that time, journalists could join the briefing using zoom and took part in the Q&A session at the briefing. However, the department started presenting the briefing in the form of a bulletin from the second week of April, omitting the journalists' engagement. Prof Dr Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the DGHS, regularly presented information in the health bulletin.