Bangladesh to ease lockdown for Eid-ul-Adha

BANGLADESH has decided to partially ease the ongoing nationwide lockdown for eight days for the upcoming Eid-ul-Adha festival, despite a surge in coronavirus infections.

Restrictions will be relaxed from Thursday (15) to July 22 and the press information department of the government said an official announcement will be made on Tuesday (13).

Public transport is likely to be allowed to operate with a reduced occupancy and shopping malls may be permitted to open with Covid-19 guidelines.

Trains are also expected to operate at 50 per cent capacity.

Eid-ul-Adha will be celebrated on July 21 and the lockdown will be imposed again from July 23.

Relaxations ahead of the festival will help reduce the rush of people who head back to villages, Dhaka Tribune said, citing unnamed sources in the government.

The ongoing lockdown has been in force since July 1, following a steep rise in the number of infections amid a shortage of vaccines against the raging virus.

On Sunday (11), Bangladesh recorded 11,874 new cases, the highest single-day number in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, according to the directorate general of health services (DGHS).

"There will be no hospital beds available in the next seven to 10 days if the current infection rate and patients' rush to hospitals continue," DGHS spokesperson Robed Amin told a virtual briefing.

The planned relaxation of the lockdown comes amid warnings from health experts that the pandemic satiation could turn grimmer after the festival.