Lockdown restrictions relaxed from 11 August
All government and private offices, restaurants, shopping malls will reopen in compliance with health guidelines
The government has decided to relax curbs, put in place to check the spread of coronavirus, on offices, businesses and public transports from 11 August to keep the country's economy afloat.
The Cabinet Division issued a gazette notification in this regard Sunday afternoon.
The gazette says all government and private offices as well as restaurants and shopping malls will reopen from Wednesday in compliance with the health guidelines.
Besides, the government also decided to allow public transports to operate again from 11 August. Public transports in all routes will carry passengers at full capacity, but the number of vehicles will be reduced by 50%.
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Restaurants and hotels will reopen at half their sitting capacity, from 8am to 10pm every day. Shopping malls and markets will also remain open from 10am to 8pm daily from the same day.
The circular said that the wearing of masks has to be ensured in all cases and the hygiene rules framed by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have to be followed properly, otherwise legal action will be taken.
The notification further says that if any public transports, offices, shopping malls and kitchen markets are found negligent in complying with the hygiene rules, legal action will be taken against them.
According to the circular, educational institutions, tourist centres, resorts, community centres and recreation centres will remain closed as before.
However, before the issuance of the notification, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told reporters at the Secretariat that everything would be opened after August 10, but step by step.
"The lockdown will continue till midnight on 10 August. The plan is to relax the restrictions step by step from 11 August. Our corona detection rate is declining a bit, but the death rate is above 200. We must keep an eye on that," he said.
Keep reading-
- All govt, private offices to reopen from 11 Aug
- Markets to remain open for 10 hours daily from 11 August
- Green light for public transports to run at full capacity from 11 Aug
Since July last, the country has been passing through the worst days of the pandemic after its beginning in March 2020. Although the lockdown was imposed from 1 July to deal with the deteriorating situation, it was relaxed for nine days during the Eid-ul-Adha, ignoring the opinion of experts.
As a result, after the lockdown was reimposed after the Eid holidays from 23 July, Bangladesh saw new records of daily infections and deaths. Despite the worsened situation, under pressure from owners of export-oriented industries, the government permitted reopening all export-oriented industrial factories 1 August.
The government, however, extended the lockdown till 10 August.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said on 3 August that shops, businesses and offices would reopen on 11 August after a week-long comprehensive vaccination campaign. Vehicles will ply streets 'by rotation'.
It was planned to give the first dose of the vaccine to 32 lakh people at the union and ward levels across the country in the six-day vaccination programme which began on Saturday. However, due to the huge response of the people, the number might exceed 35 lakh.
Meanwhile, the extended lockdown is largely ignored by desperate people in the capital. On the 17th day of the ongoing lockdown, on Sunday, a good number of rickshaws and CNG as well as cars and motorbikes were seen plying the roads, creating severe traffic jams on some of the busiest roads.
The entire road from Shyamoli to Agargaon was occupied by vehicles. Besides, there were traffic jams at Collegegate, Bijay Sarani, Karwan Bazar and Banglamotor.
Although there were police checkposts at different points of the city, law enforcers were not active there. As a result, thousands of people moved freely.
Asked about the matter, a sergeant at the Collegegate check post declined to speak. Besides, the shops in different areas were also found open.
