The Education Ministry of Bangladesh has announced a further extension of the closure of schools and other educational institutions till February 28 in view of the Corona pandemic. However, the Quami Madrasas will remain open.<br />''<br />''Schools and other educational institutions in the country have remained closed since March 18 after the first Corona positive case was found in Bangladesh on 8th March. The examinations for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) have also been cancelled earlier.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, the COVID 19 vaccination programme in the country is moving ahead in full swing. After a tepid start, the vaccination programme has quickly gained popularity. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), more than 7.36 lakh people have been vaccinated in the country till now since January 27 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the programme. The countrywide mass vaccination programme started on February 7. On Saturday, 1.94 lakh people were vaccinated across 1005 health centres in the country.<br />''<br />''Initially, the government had planned to vaccinate 60 lakh people per month which was reduced to 35 lakh per month due to lukewarm response seen in the registration for the vaccine. In order to boost participation of people, the government reduced the minimum age for eligibility for the vaccine from 55 to 40. Since then, there has been a surge in the number of people coming to take the vaccine. Health centres and hospitals in Dhaka and other parts of the country have witnessed large crowds of people coming to get the vaccine.<br />''<br />''Bangladesh has signed an agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the purchase of 30 million doses of the Oxford University AstraZeneca vaccine. Out of it, 5 million doses arrived in Bangladesh last month. India also gifted 2 million doses of the vaccine to Bangladesh.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Bangladesh reported 13 deaths due to Corona on Saturday taking the death toll to 8266 in the country.</span><br />