The government has again extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions until May 29 due to the recent spike in Covid-19 infections.

The decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers and staffers after consultation with the National Advisory Committee on Covid-19, said an official release signed by M A Khair, public relations officer of the Education Ministry.

During the closure online classes will continue, it said.

Earlier, the government decided to reopen schools and colleges on May 23 and the Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard.

Also read: Covid-19: Ongoing lockdown to be extended until May 23

The government shut educational institutions on March 17 last year after the country reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8.

The closure was extended several times, most recently until May 23 this year.

On February 22 the education minister announced that university classes would resume on May 24.

Residential halls were scheduled to be reopened on May 17.

Also read: Schools, colleges to reopen on May 23

Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh

Covid-19 claimed 22 more lives in Bangladesh in the past 24 hours until Saturday morning which is the lowest daily deaths in nearly two months.

The country saw 26 Covid deaths on Friday and 31 on Thursday.

With the latest deaths logged today, the official Covid-related death count in the country reached 12,124.

However, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.55%, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Also read: Covid-19: 22 more lives lost, lowest daily deaths in 7 weeks

The country witnessed a sharp drop in the number of new cases as the tests have declined dramatically.

Only 261 infections were logged in the last 24 hours after examining 3,758 samples during the period.

The number of daily cases has been decreasing since the beginning of May, falling below 2,000.