Purpose: The present study aimed to compare and analyze the sex-specific epidemiological, clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and other information of confirmed COVID-19 patients from the southeast region in Bangladesh for the first time. Methods: 385 lab-confirmed cases were studied out of a total of 2471 tested samples between June 5 and September 10, 2020. RT-PCR was used for COVID-19 identification and SPSS (version 25) for statistical data analysis. Results: We found that male patients were roughly affected compared to females patients (male 74.30% vs. female 25.7%) with an average age of 34.86 +/- 15.442 years, and B (+ve) blood group has been identified as a high-risk factor for COVID-19 infection. Workplace, local market, and bank were signified as sex-specific risk zone (p < 0.001). Pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were identified among the patients. Less than half of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the southeast region were asymptomatic (37.73%) and more prevalent among females than males (male vs. female: 36.84% vs. 40.51%, p = 0.001). Conclusions: The findings may help health authorities and the government to take necessary steps for identification and isolation, treatment, prevention, and control of this global pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus disease, Epidemiological, Clinical features, Asymptomatic, Comorbidities

Amount of death due to pregnancy are gradually decreasing worldwide, among all of these estimated deaths, one-fifth of the maternal death recorded in southern Asia. The increasing rate of caesarean section (CS) delivery and the improved safety of surgical skill are the big reason of reduced pregnancy related mortality rate. Bangladesh has the increasing CS rate on southern Asia. This study aimed to identify the different factors affecting the increasing rate of CS in Bangladesh This cross-sectional survey was conducted between January 2020 - March 2020 among the married women at reproductive age (15-49 years age) having at least one under five years child of Dhaka and Noakhali district in Bangladesh. A questionnaire was designed to survey the preference of their delivery mode. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the factors. A total of 357 Bangladeshi women participated in the survey and 55.7% declared they would prefer normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and 37.3% had no clear preference. The actual scenario was the overall CS rate was 51.8% during 2015-2019. But it was very high (77.8%) for the 40 years and above women. The study revealed several important factors that significantly affect the increasing rate of CS for childbirth. Maternal age, religion, current place of residence, working status, monthly household income, birth order, marital age and year of childbirth were found to have significant effect on the high rate of CS. All those who have had face CS at least once in our study faced various problem, they reported. Most of them was feeling tired to do little work and suffered long term back pain. This study will help policy makers in formulating appropriate programs to cope with this challenge efficiently and effectively. Some Special programs should be taken to increase the social awareness and values to save both mother and child, which may lead to decrease the rate of CS in Bangladesh.

Objective: To identify the acceptance of the vaccine based on factors influencing the vaccination program and the side effects from vaccinated people. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 1 529 Bangladeshi adults (≥18 years) was conducted between 17 April, 2021 and 26 April, 2021. Statistical analysis of the data included Chi-square test and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: In total, 67.04% of the participants were willing to accept a COVID-19 vaccine, and 45.00% of them in our study had already received. Overall Bangladeshi people were more likely to accept COVID-19 vaccine if the vaccine reduces risk of infectious disease and has no associated health risk after receiving it. Among the respondents, religions, education level, living area (urban), belif that vaccines protect against infectious diseases and vaccines do not have health-related risk and vaccination was significantly associated with the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines. Conversely, people’s perception on development of natural immunity rather than receiving vaccines was also positively reflected. More than half (57.41%) reported minor side effects such as fever, muscle pain and headache after getting vaccine shots. Conclusions: This study revealed that the acceptance rate was influenced by socio-demographic and health-related characteristics and people are not afraid of this vaccine if they faced minor side effects after receiving it. These findings might help the government and policymakers of Bangladesh to implement necessary steps to accomplish this vaccination program effectively.

Purpose COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious threat to peoples’ physical and mental health because of its high death toll all over the world within a very short period. As a result, people may be psychologically stressed, which can affect their quality of life. The main purpose of this study is to quantify the level of stress among the adults (age 18 and above) including all gender, religions and races of Bangladesh during this devastating pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This online survey-based study collected demographic data and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) to determine stress levels over past one month. The total numbers of respondents are 1,148 from May 29, 2020 to June 12, 2020; using the PSS to assess stress levels and to identify the potential variables having association with level of psychological stress, multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed. Findings A scary proportion (81%) of respondents suffered from substantial amount psychological stress during this COVID-19 pandemic. It is an undeniable signal for us that, every 4 out of 5 respondents in our study is suffering from different level of psychological stress during this time. Comparing the level of stress, this study finds that elderly (60 and above), women, front-line workers (doctor and other health-care professionals) and second-line workers (public service holders, police and defense and banks or financial institutes) have high psychological stress compared to the other respondents. Originality/value This study will help policymakers to provide relevant mental health intervention strategies to cope with this challenge efficiently.

In Bangladesh like the other nations around the world, the educational sector is highly affected due to COVID-19 lockdown. To know the overall picture of higher education during this lockdown and the perception of online education this study is conducted on 948 students. Our study findings show that around 73.7% of the students were involved in online education. 85.1% of the students used android mobile phones for attending online education and most (70.7%) of the respondents faced poor internet connection. The study also finds the percentage distribution in terms of the respondent's institution. Almost half of the students of private universities are from urban areas and they spend more time per week in online education compared to college and public university students. It is a big challenge for some of the students for attaining online platforms.