Bangladesh has extended its strict lockdown and announced plans to vaccinate at least 10 million people in a week as the country battles a major Covid-19 surge.

According to AFP, the vaccination drive from August 7 will be led by tens of thousands of health workers at 14,000 health centres, senior minister Mozammel Haque said.

“More than 10m people will be vaccinated in a week. Elderly people, workers and shopkeepers will be given the priority,” Haque said.

Bangladesh has so far reported some 1.3m cases and some 21,160 deaths — figures experts said are a gross undercount.