Bangladesh extends lockdown till July 14

Bangladesh continued to battle with surging cases of COVID 19 in the country as it reported the highest number of deaths and fresh infections in a single day on Monday. According to the latest figures released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 164 people died and 9964 people were infected in the last 24 hours on Monday.

 

Death toll has gone up to 15,229 and the number of infected people in the country is over 9.5 lakhs. The number of active cases in the country is over 96 thousand. The sample positivity rate also continued to rise. On Monday the positivity rate was 29.30 percent, up from 28.99 percent on Sunday and 27.39 percent on Saturday. 

In order to contain the spread of COVID 19 in the country, the government of Bangladesh further extended the ongoing ‘strict lockdown’ by another week till July 14. The notification for extending the lockdown was issued by the cabinet division of the government on



Monday.

The weeklong countrywide lockdown is in force from July 1. It is being enforced strictly across the country. During the lockdown all offices including government, autonomous and private ones are closed. Motorised vehicles are not allowed to operate except those which are engaged in emergency services and transportation of goods.

 

Public transport is also suspended in the country. However, factories and industrial units are allowed to open following health guidelines issued by the government.  On the fifth day of the lockdown, most of the roads in Dhaka had a sparse flow of traffic. Very few people were seen on the roads. 

Police along with armed forces patrolled various areas to ensure strict adherence of the lockdown stipulations. Meanwhile, the government of Bangladesh has decided to bring down the age of vaccination in the country to 35 years from the current level of 40 years.