The Bangladesh government has decided to ease all lockdown restrictions in the country for eight days ahead of Eid ul Azha. In a notification on Tuesday morning, the cabinet division said that the lockdown restrictions will be lifted from July 14 midnight to the morning of July 23. Read: Bangladesh ready to go into 'strict lockdown' from Monday However, strict restrictions will resume from July 23 and will continue till August 5, as per the order. Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Bangladesh Railway is going to restore its passenger train services for eight days from July 15-22 across the country, keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. Read: Bangladesh extends lockdown until June 6 Public transport services and business institutions will also be allowed to function.  Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated on July 21 amid the Delta variant of Covid-19 wreaking havoc across the country, shattering records everyday. Read: Breaching Lockdown: 585 arrested, Tk 8.9 lakh realised in fines A record rise in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide stringent lockdown suspending all outdoor activities unless there's an emergency.

The district administration has announced a 7-day special lockdown in six Noakhali unions on Friday to break the surge in Covid transmission. The unions are - Noyannai, Binodpur, Qadir Hanif, Neyazpur, Ashwadia and Noakhali.( Noakhali Sadar upazila, Noakhali Municipality) The restrictions come into effect at 6am on Saturday, and remain in place till 11 June. Read:Lockdown in 7 villages of Chuadanga Md Khorshed Alam, deputy commissioner of Noakhali revealed it to the press on Friday following a meeting of the district Corona prevention committee. Around 589 people tested positive for Covid-19 and four succumbed to death in the last seven days in the district. Lockdown in districts Apart from Noakhali district administrations of frontier districts including Rajshahi, Khulna, Satkhira and parts of Naogaon  have imposed lockdown and restrictions to stop the spike in Covid cases. Read: Satkhira put under 7-day strict lockdown District administrations have been given the authority to enforce lockdown in their areas if the Covid-19 situation deteriorates there.  

The government has decided to enforce a fresh countrywide lockdown for a week from April 22 as coronavirus cases keep rising in the country. “The lockdown will remain in force from April 22 to 28 with the same restrictions imposed in the previous week. It’ll be a tougher one,” said State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossian.   The summary of today’s decision has been sent to the Prime Minister and a gazette will be issued once it gets her approval, he said.   The ongoing lockdown will end on April 21. Also Read: Bangladesh braces for 'another weeklong lockdown' As coronavirus cases continue to rise alarmingly from late March, the government imposed an apparently loose nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread. But the government allowed the resumption of public transport in city corporation areas from April 7 as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from April 9 in the face of protests against the lockdown. A stricter lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21 and the Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard. Restrictions as per previous notification All modes of public transports, including those of roads, riverways, railways and air, will remain suspended during the lockdown. But the offices related to air, maritime and river and land ports will remain out of the preview of the lockdown. However, the restriction will not be effective in the case of carrying goods, emergency services and production. The offices, staffers and vehicles of the organisations providing emergency services, including law enforcement, agricultural products (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, machinaris), crops, food-laden vehicles, relief distribution, health services, health workers involved in mass inoculation, power, water, gas, fire services, port activities, media (print and electronic media), private security management, telephone, and postal services will remain out of the purview of the restriction. Also Read: Lockdown day 3: Dhaka streets largely deserted Industries and factories Industries and factories will remain open on condition of maintaining health protocols. The respective factories or industries must take measures to carry their employees in their own vehicles. Public movement Public movement will be restricted and no one will be allowed to go outside except for certain emergency needs (to purchase medicines, daily essentials, to take medical services and burial/ cremation of dead bodies, taking Covid-19 jabs etc). Also Read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike Hotels and restaurants Hotels and restaurants can operate from 12 pm to 7 pm and 12 am to 6 am with takeaway/online services only. Markets and shops All the shopping malls and markets will remain closed during this period. Daily essential items like kitchen items can be sold and purchased from open spaces from 9 am to 3 pm complying with health protocols. Local administrations and the authorities concerned will ensure it. The local administration concerned will take steps in a coordinated way for carrying agricultural workers for harvesting Boro paddy. District and field administrations will take measures to enforce the directives in a coordinated way. Law enforcement agencies will strengthen patrol and take legal action against those who will violate the directives. The Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services will take necessary steps to engage law enforcers and local administration on behalf of him. Worsening Covid situation Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning. It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in 24 hours. The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services. Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.   The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far. Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on Feb 7. Until Sunday morning, 7,116,946 have registered for the vaccine. So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.

Bangladesh registered a single-day death of 101 from Covid-19 for the second consecutive day in 24 hours until Saturday, pushing up the total fatalities to 10,283. The country shattered its previous all records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities on Friday. With the latest figure, the mortality rate rose to 1.44 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout. Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh's death toll crosses grave milestone. However, 3,473 new cases were detected during the period as the number of tests declined significantly in the last 5-6 days. Only 16, 185 samples were tested during the period. The handout said the daily infection rate fell to 21.46 percent from Friday’s 23.36 percent. Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month. With the new cases, the total caseload reached 715,252 while the total number of recoveries was 608,815, (85.12 percent of all patients) including 5,907 in the last 24 hours. 1,237 lost lives in 17 days The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March. Between April 1 and April 17, the country registered 1,237 deaths and 100,484 new cases. On Thursday, the country recorded 94 deaths, a day after registering the highest number of single-day fatalities (96). The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday. Also Read: Day 4 of lockdown: Dhaka wears a deserted look 81 pc victims above 50 Of the latest victims, 69 are men and 32 are women. Of them, 99 died at hospitals. Fifty-eight out of the 101 victims are above the age of 60. So far, 7,635 men and 2,648 women have died from the virus. In terms of age group, 56.36 percent are aged more than 60 years while 24.62 percent are aged between 51 and 60 years. Together, these two groups account for 80.98 percent of the total fatalities. Dhaka has recorded 58.15 percent of the fatalities with 67 deaths, followed by Chattogram’s 18 percent fatality rate with 23 deaths. On Saturday morning, there were 157 ICU beds available in the country. There are 10,667 general beds for coronavirus patients and 5,423 of them are currently occupied. On the other hand, there are only 823 ICU beds and 666 of them are occupied at the moment.

Although the streets in Dhaka city had taken a deserted look on the first day of the nationwide fresh eight-day lockdown on Wednesday, the movement of people, private vehicles and rickshaws increased on its second day on Thursday. Shops and shopping malls remained closed as the government has enforced a stricter lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19 cases. Also Read: Lockdown: 60,000 people register for movement pass Rickshaws were seen plying roads in different areas, including Dilu Road, Mohakhali, Bijoy Sarani and Manik Mia Avenue as people are hiring the slow-moving three wheelers to reach their destinations in absence of alternative transports. Police and Rab members were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people after setting up check-posts at different parts of the capital. They were asking people why they got out of home.  Those who were failing to show the ‘movement pass’ or any valid reason of going out were being fined. Asaduzzaman, a traffic Inspector in Mohakhali area, said: “We don’t allow anyone to move without valid any reason. Those who’re failing to show any valid reason are either sued or fined. However, we didn’t put any pressure on anyone on humanitarian grounds.” A long queue of vehicles was seen on Kuril Biswa Road as police were checking each vehicle. However, kitchen markets were found violating the government directives as they are not seen running their business in open spaces. Besides, some were seen ignoring health guidelines. Amid the devastating Covid-19 situation, the government enforced a fresh eight-day lockdown on Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus. The Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard on Monday. The lockdown will remain in force from 6:00 am Wednesday (April 14) till April 21 midnight. Lockdown instructions Under the fresh lockdown, all the government, semi-government, autonomous, private offices and financial institutions will remain closed. All modes of public transports, including those of road, river, railway and air, will remain suspended during the lockdown. However, the restriction will not be effective in the case of carrying goods, emergency services and production. But industries and factories will remain open on condition of maintaining health protocols. Also Read: Relaxed lockdown taken as license to ignore social distancing The offices, staffers and vehicles of the organisations providing emergency services, including law enforcement, agricultural products (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, machinaris), crops, food laden vehicles, relief distribution, health services, health workers involved in mass inoculation, power, water, gas, fire services, port activities, media (print and electronic media), private security management, telephone, and postal services will remain out of the purview of the restriction. People’s movement will be restricted and no one will be allowed to go outside except for emergency needs (to purchase medicines, daily essentials, to take medical services and burial/ cremation of dead bodies, taking Covid-19 jabs etc). Hotels and restaurants can operate with takeaway/online services only from 12 pm to 7 pm and 12 am to 6 am. No one will be allowed to take food sitting in hotels or restaurants. The government imposed a 'loose' nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain the spike in both coronavirus infections and fatalities. But the government allowed the resumption of public transport in city corporation areas from April 7 as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from April 9 in the face of protests against the lockdown. The lockdown remained in force until April 13 (Tuesday).