As the spread of Coronavirus has sparked alarm across the country, the government is set to issue a notification on Saturday over enforcing a fresh nationwide lockdown from April 14 in its desperate bid to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

A fresh lockdown is coming with tougher measures as the virus keeps spreading fast in the country, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said while talking to UNB about the lockdown notification.

“The country saw the highest death from Covid-19 today. The situation will get out of hand if we don’t take tougher measures. So, we’ve decided to go for an all-out lockdown from April 14,” he said.

Also read: Bangladesh again breaks daily Covid death record with 77

Replying to a question whether there would be any restriction for April 12 and 13 after the ongoing 7-day lockdown tomorrow (Sunday), the state minister said there would be directives regarding these two days in tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) notification.

Everything except emergency services will be closed this time, said Farhad Hossain adding, “Garment factories, transport movement and all the offices except those of emergency services will remain shut.”

The state minister said the government will take special initiatives for providing financial and food assistance to the low-income people during the lockdown across the country and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief will take necessary measures in this regard.

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Asked whether the army would be deployed to enforce the government's instructions, he said, "I haven’t yet received any message over army deployment. The Prime Minister will decide in this regard.”

Earlier on Friday, the state minister said the government is planning to impose an extremely severe lockdown from April 14 to 20. 

Also read: Worsening Covid crisis: Bangladesh resorting to full lockdown

Asked whether the lockdown will be extended or not, the minister said that the decision would be taken based on the ground reality.

The government imposed an apparently lose nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its tougher 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 Wednesday as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from Friday in the face of protests against the lockdown.

Also read: Govt considering complete lockdown from April 14: Quader

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, a densely populated country, is facing the wraths of the Covid-19 pandemic as people continued to defy health protocols despite warnings both from the government and experts.

On Saturday, the country registered 77 more deaths in 24 hours until Saturday morning, shattering all of its previous records.

The number of new coronavirus cases dropped slightly to 5,343 said a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

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Experts told UNB that Bangladesh is still far away from achieving herd immunity and the best option for the country is to intensify its vaccination drive to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

They also said there is no option but to impose tougher restrictions on desperate movement of people and enforcing health safety protocols. If so, Bangladesh will surely get the positive result it looks for, they added.      

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