Nationwide strict lockdown from Monday

The government has announced to impose a seven-day strict lockdown across the country, starting from Monday, to curb the Covid-19 transmission. 

"Initially the lockdown will be imposed for seven days, which may be extended further depending on the Covid-19 situation," said State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain.

The state minister also said, "Police and the Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) will ensure strict enforcement of the lockdown and the army may also be deployed."

Banks and other financial institutions will operate on a limited scale, he added.

Surath Kumar Sarkar, chief information officer of the Information Department, issued a message to the media today, saying, "All kinds of government and non-government offices will remain closed during this period except the ones involved with emergency services." 

Besides, all sorts of transports will also remain suspended and nobody will be allowed to come out of home except there is an emergency.

However, media, ambulances, and vehicles engaged in serving medical purposes will remain out of the purview of the restriction. 

The Cabinet division will come up with more details regarding the strict lockdown tomorrow, according to the message.

The government announced the step a day after the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended a 14-day strict shutdown be imposed across the country considering the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country. 

Bangladesh reported 108 deaths from Covid-19 and 5,869 new infections in the last 24 hours ending at 8am Friday.

Two months ago on 19 April, the country reported the highest ever, 112, fatalities in a span of 24 hours. 

Amid the deteriorating Covid-19 situation, so far 1,357 people have died of the virus in June. However, with a total of 2,404 deaths, April remained the cruelest month when the country was hit by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.