Curbs to stay during Eid

BANGLADESH (The Daily Star/ANN) -- With the nationwide lockdown extended till July 14, the government is unlikely to allow cattle markets in the capital ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha if the Covid situation doesn’t improve.
However, if the strict lockdown helps flatten the rising curve of infections and deaths by that time, a handful of cattle markets could be allowed to run on a limited scale, maintaining strict compliance of the health safety rules, said highly placed sources in the government.

Daily new cases of Covid-19 and deaths from the disease have been frequently setting records. --Photo Mintu Deshwara

They said the authorities will encourage people to buy sacrificial animals online to prevent buyers and traders from going to cattle markets during this critical phase of the pandemic.
All-out measures will be taken to stop people from travelling from one district to another before the Eid when people in their thousands leave the cities for village homes, they mentioned.
Meanwhile, the government extended the lockdown for a week to curb the spread of Covid that has already claimed more than 15,000 lives in the country.
In a gazette notification yesterday, the Cabinet Division said all the ongoing restrictions have been extended, considering the current state of the pandemic.
Contacted, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said, “We will do everything to reap the benefits from the ongoing lockdown. The next few weeks will be important for us.
“We have taken lessons from the previous Eid and are proceeding accordingly,” he told The Daily Star.
The extension came following advice from the National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 and the grim records that the country saw in both Covid deaths and new infections.
As many as 164 people died in 24 hours till 8:00am yesterday, by far the highest number of deaths from Covid in a single day since it hit the country last year.
The Covid death toll hit 15,229 and the death rate was 1.59 percent.
At least 9,964 new infections -- the highest in a day -- were reported in the 24 hours, taking the total number to 954,881, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The daily Covid positivity rate was 29.30 percent, meaning more than one in every four samples tested positive for the virus.
Last week, the number of deaths rose by 46.6 percent and new cases by 43.6 percent compared to those in the previous week, according to DGHS data.

(Latest Update July 7, 2021)