A weeklong countrywide lockdown that is starting from July 1 will be strictly enforced by members of Bangladesh Army, police and Border Guard Bangladesh, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam has said.
The decision was taken after carefully examining Covid conditions in four divisions, the secretary said during a press briefing on Monday.
No movement passes will be issued during the lockdown, he said adding that the government will take a strict approach this time.
Movement of all kinds of transports will be restricted, except for vehicles engaged in emergency services, he further said.
The government decided to impose a seven-day strict lockdown across Bangladesh from July 1, revising its earlier decision to enforce it from June 28.
It decided to enforce a limited scale lockdown from June 28 to 30, and a complete lockdown from July 1.
The decision of lockdown came after the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended a 14-day strict lockdown across the country considering the alarming spike in Covid-19 tranmsission in Bangladesh.
NTAC suggested enforcing a minimum of 14-day complete shutdown to stem the tide of infection.
Meanwhile on Sunday, Bangladesh recorded 119 Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, its highest-ever single-day fatalities since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Although infection rate dipped slightly from the previous day, daily Covid cases touched 5,000-mark with 5,268 new cases reported during the period.
Bangladesh reported its first cases on March 8 last year and the first coronavirus-related death on March 18 that year. So far, the country has seen 14,172 deaths and confirmed 8,88,406 cases.
