The Forest Department has banned tourists from entering the Sundarbans till April 15 to tackle the second wave of COVID-19.
However, beekeepers and fishermen will be exempt from the ban.
Forest Conservator of Khulna Zone Moinuddin Khan confirmed this news to UNB.
He said that there are seven tourist spots in eastern and western zones of Sundarban. All of these will be closed effective immediately.
According to him, around 2 lakh domestic and foreign tourists visit the Sundarbans every year.
Although, tourists were suspended for the majority of 2020, records show around 1 lakh 72 thousand tourists came to Sundarbans last year despite it.
Moinuddin stated that the reason behind not losing tourists despite suspension was that the main season to visit the Sundarbans is from Nov-Jan, it was when the COVID situation was comparatively back to normal.
Earlier on March 19 last year, the Sundarbans was declared closed to tourists.
Later, after almost seven months of suspension, instructions were given to conduct tourism in compliance with the hygiene rules in October.
