The government has shut all the educational institutions for the next two weeks until February 6 as the country is witnessing a sharp spike in Covid-19 infections every day.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque made the fresh announcement at a press briefing in the capital on Friday, just four months after the resumption of in-person educational activities.
After a long shutdown of 18 months in the wake of the raging Covid-19 pandemic, primary, secondary and higher secondary schools opened doors on September 12 to resume in-person classes and examinations.
The educational institutions had been shut since March 17, 2020, in Bangladesh after the country reported its first Covid cases on March 8. Later, the closure was extended in phases.
In the briefing, the minister said the decision of closing schools, colleges and universities was taken after discussing the issue with the prime minister, aiming to contain the spread of Covid infections.
“Next course of action will be taken after observing the overall situation for two weeks,” he said.
Zahid Maleque said the government is going to cap the attendance at 50 per cent at offices and courts.
A gazette notification will be issued in this regard soon, he added.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Division issued fresh directives to choke the coronavirus transmission in the country.
Among those, the educational institutions will remain closed from Friday till February 6.
Not more than 100 people will be allowed to join state, social, political and religious gatherings. The individuals must have Covid vaccination certificate or carry RT-PCR negative certificates obtained from tests done within 24 hours of the programme.
Wearing a mask is mandatory at all sorts of gatherings, including bazaars, mosques, bus stands, launch terminals, and rail stations.
On Thursday, Bangladesh recorded 10,888 fresh cases and four deaths in the previous 24 hours.
The daily test positivity rate surged to 26.37 per cent, up from 25.11 per cent logged on Wednesday.
The country, in the meantime, detected 64 Omicron cases so far, according to GISAID, the global database for genomic data on the coronavirus.
