Govt extends strict lockdown till August 10

The Bangladesh government has once again decided to extend the ongoing nationwide strict lockdown by five more days to August 10 as coronavirus infections and fatalities continue to rise.

Shops, malls, businesses and offices would be allowed to reopen on August 11 following some precautionary measures including penalising unvaccinated people aged over 18 if he or she is found roaming at public space, said Liberation War Affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque while talking to the media on Tuesday.

The decisions on the extension of the ongoing nationwide lockdown for five more days and reopening of shops and shopping malls and plying inter-district buses were made earlier at a cabinet meeting held on the day.

After the meeting, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque told the journalists that the government had extended the ongoing lockdown till August, 10 and decided to reopen shops, shopping malls and public transport from August, 11.

 “Government has extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till August 10 and shops are shopping malls and public transport will be reopened from August 11 following health guidelines."

The meeting also decided that the people over 18 must be vaccinated as the government planned to vaccinate one crore people within the span of six days period, said the minister.

AKM Mozammel Haque said, “If any people over 18 are found without being vaccinated will be considered as a punishable offense. The Health ministry has managed vaccines to inoculate one crore people within six days. So anyone aged over 18 years will face legal action if not vaccinated.  An ordinance will be issued soon in this regard to punish them.”

About the reopening of inter-district bus operation, the minister said, “Public transport will also resume on a limited scale from the same day, which will be gradually lifted in phases.”

The government had allowed the operation of export-oriented factories from August 1 in the face of pressure from business groups which leads to an influx of people to Dhaka and sufferings along the journey as there are no public transports to carry them.

Earlier on August 2, Bangladesh Restaurant Owners' Association urged the government to allow them to reopen hotels and restaurants following health guidelines amid the pandemic.

On July 30, the government allowed industry owners to reopen all export-oriented factories from 1 August amid the nationwide lockdown.

Bangladesh has been under a lockdown since July 23.

Amid the rising death toll there are 235 deaths recorded on Tuesday in the last 24 hours which was 246 on Monday. Country is witnessing a steady rise of death which is 200 plus in per day counts since July 30.

As of today, since the outbreak of Covid-19 the death toll crossed 21,379 in the country and the case tally increased to 12, 96,093.