Biman Bangladesh Airlines has announced to start flight on Dhaka-Chennai route as regular basis as well as Delhi and Kolkata flights in India. The flights will begin under the bubble agreement. The information was confirmed by Biman Bangladesh Airlines Deputy General Manager (Public Relations) Tahera Khondoker through a notice. The notice said, passenger flight operations will start on Dhaka-Delhi-Dhaka route from 29 October, on Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka route from 1 November and on Dhaka-Chennai-Dhaka route from 15 November. Passengers can buy tickets from Biman sales center, mobile app, website and travel agents. Corona related conditions or directions and flight schedule will be available on Biman website. But there are some conditions, such as- everyone has to bring the Corona Negative Certificate. The travelers have to maintain seven-day institutional quarantine in India with their own cost. If there are symptoms of coronavirus infection then the travelers have to maintain 14-day quarantine. AH

In a retrospective study of patients tested for COVID-19, researchers at the University of Chicago (UChicago) Medicine found an association between vitamin D deficiency and the likelihood of becoming infected with the coronavirus. The researchers looked at 489 patients at UChicago Medicine whose vitamin D level had been measured within a year before being tested for COVID-19, reports Xinhua. Patients who had vitamin D deficiency, defined as less than 20 nanograms per milliliter of blood, that was not treated were almost twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 compared to patients who had sufficient levels of the vitamin. "Vitamin D is important to the function of the immune system and vitamin D supplements have previously been shown to lower the risk of viral respiratory tract infections," said David Meltzer, Chief of Hospital Medicine at UChicago Medicine and lead author of the study. "Our statistical analysis suggests this may be true for the COVID-19 infection." Half of Americans are thought to be deficient in vitamin D, with much higher rates seen in African Americans, Hispanics and individuals living in areas like Chicago where it is difficult to get enough sun exposure in winter. "Understanding whether treating vitamin D deficiency changes COVID-19 risk could be of great importance locally, nationally and globally," said Meltzer. "Vitamin D is inexpensive, generally very safe to take, and can be widely scaled." The researchers are planning further clinical trials. They emphasize the importance of experimental studies to determine whether vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk, and potentially severity, of COVID-19, as well as the need for studies of what strategies for vitamin D supplementation may be most appropriate in specific populations. Source: Xinhua/UNB AH