Two days ahead of the seven-day nationwide shutdown, thousands of people overcrowded the Shimulia ferry terminal on Saturday in their frantic efforts to get back their village homes. People were seen flocking the Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry ghat and crossing the river since morning ignoring health safety protocols. All the 16 ferries are now operating to manage the huge rush of home-bound people. Also read: BGB personnel keep watch on Covid safety protocols at Shimulia ferry ghat Besides, many people gathered on the other side of the ferry terminal to return to Dhaka to get their emergency works done. Check-posts have been installed in many important points as the government earlier enforced restrictions to limit movement in the district. Launches, speedboats and trawlers were seen carrying passengers beyond their capacities. The link road near platoon No 3 at the ghat has gone under water to rains, adding to the woes of passengers. Mohammad Foysal, manager of Bangladesh Inland and Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), said, “All the ferries are operating now due to huge pressure of homebound people. A long queue of vehicles was also seen near the ghat for crossing the river.” Also read: 5 die in stampede, heatstroke at Banglabazar ferry terminal The government is going to enforce a new nationwide "strict lockdown" on Monday, as the country grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases and fatalities with the highly infectious Delta variant playing havoc. The restrictions will remain in place for seven days, said Press Information Department Principal Information Officer Surath Kumar Sarker on Friday. Government and private offices, barring those of emergency services, will remain shut during this period. The National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday recommended imposing a "nationwide shutdown" for two weeks considering the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country. Community transmission of the highly transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus might be the reason behind the current Covid-19 situation in the country, said the committee. Also read: Strict nationwide lockdown in Bangladesh from Monday as Covid situation worsens It used the example of India to emphasise that no step other than a "complete shutdown" might be enough to prevent the spread of the Delta variant. Bangladesh has seen a spike in coronavirus infections and fatalities in recent weeks, with the country reporting its second-highest fatalities – 108 new deaths – and 5,869 cases Friday. It has now seen 878,804 cases and 13,976 deaths.

Paramount Pictures on Thursday temporarily shut down production on the British set of Tom Cruise’s seventh “Mission: Impossible” film after someone tested positive for coronavirus. “We have temporarily halted production on ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation.” The company provided no further details. Also read: What was with that weird Oscar ending? In December, Cruise launched an expletive-laden rant at colleagues on the “Mission: Impossible” set, after he reportedly spotted two crew members violating social distancing rules. In audio released by the Sun tabloid, Cruise can be heard warning that anyone caught not following the rules to stay at least 2 meters (more than 6.5 feet) away from others will be fired. The film, which paused production for months early last year along with the rest of the film industry when the coronavirus pandemic took hold, is scheduled to be released in 2022. Also read: Is this an ‘Asterisk Oscars’ or a sign of things to come?

After around seven months of closure due to coronavirus pandemic , the National Zoo at Mirpur is going to be reopened for the visitors from November 1.

Although the government has relaxed the shutdown, enforced to curb the transmission of coronavirus, from May 31, still uncertainty looms large over resuming the field level works in the power transmission projects across the country  due to upcoming monsoon .    “Now most of the ongoing projects will be delayed by at least a year as monsoon will start from July and field level works are not possible before the next winter”, said a top official of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).          Field-level work on 25 ongoing power transmission projects remained suspended since the coronavirus outbreak in China in December last year, hitting hard the power sector development.   According to official sources, most of these projects were either awarded to Chinese contractors or their equipment were supposed to come largely from China.    “Neither the Chinese workers, nor the equipment are coming from China since the pandemic started in Wuhan,” said Golam Kibria, managing director of PGCB.    He said many Chinese companies are working as subcontractors as well in Bangladesh’s power transmission sector.    The top PGCB official said although coronavirus situation in China has improved, Chinese officials and workers, especially the technicians, are not coming back as the virus situation in Bangladesh is worsening.    “Finding no way, we had to suspend the field-level works on the transmission projects,” he added.     

People who have been hit hard by the recent shutdown aimed at containing the coronavirus outbreak, have urged the government to announce a pro-poor national budget that saves both the lives and livelihoods of the people.

The air quality in Dhaka showed a significant improvement on Wednesday morning with the capital city ranking 47th worst in the Air Quality Index (AQI).

Over 2,000 workers of Benapole Land Port have been jobless for nine days as the export-import activities through the port remained suspended since March 24 in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.   Besides, several hundred NGO workers who are dependent on the port and customs house here are going through a tough time due to the ongoing shutdown across the country.   Traders find it convenient for exporting and importing goods through the land port due to better communications system with neighbouring India.   Around 400 trucks carrying goods from India enter Bangladesh while around 200 go to the neighbouring country every day.   Around 2,000 workers are engaged at the port. Besides, several hundred NGO workers work at the port and customs house to earn their livelihoods.   The government earns at least Tk 20 crore as revenue from the port each day. But the shutdown has halted the revenue flow and left the workers without any job.  

Hundreds of demonstrators closed down streets in northeastern India on Tuesday as part of an 11-hour shutdown in protest of legislation that would grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus and other religious minorities from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who immigrated to the country illegally.