Vaccine card must be shown to dine at restaurants

Those who have not taken the Covid-19 vaccine will not be allowed in restaurants and if any restaurant fails to adhere to the instruction it will be fined, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said Monday.

"This will be made effective within 15 days," the minister told reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting on Monday about the status of Omicron in the country.

He also said there was no plan for lockdown yet and educational institutions will remain open despite the recent increase in infection of the new coronavirus variant in Bangladesh but all students will have to be vaccinated.

"All schools, colleges and universities in Kolkata in India have been closed due to the spread of Omicron. The situation in Bangladesh has not reached the stage of lockdown yet. So, there is no plan to introduce lockdown. However, school children are lax about getting vaccinated, which has to be strengthened and we are ready to cooperate," he added.

Vaccination of school students between 12-17 years old started in November. So far, 37,97,534 students have received the first dose of the vaccine and 4,39,964 have received two doses.

The inter-ministerial meeting also discussed increasing the number of rapid tests in ports, taking fewer passengers in public transports, and reducing the number of social and political events. Besides, mobile courts will work to ensure that everyone wears a mask properly.

At the end of the meeting, Professor Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (Planning and Development), told The Business Standard, "We are emphasising vaccination to combat the spread of the virus. We have enough vaccines."

The meeting also advised the Ministry of Information to launch a publicity campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated. The decision of the inter-ministerial meeting will be issued by the Cabinet Division within 15 days, she added.