Rashidul Hasan

Private hajj agencies and Biman are set to incur a huge financial loss as the Saudi government has decided not to allow anyone from abroad to perform hajj this year amid fears over coronavirus pandemic.

The country may face an acceleration in the already growing number of Covid-19 cases if the government fails to ensure the maintenance of health guidelines in cattle markets across the country ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, public health experts warned.

National flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines resumed its international flights yesterday after around three months.

Amid talks of prioritising the health and farming sectors, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council yesterday approved giving lawmakers from rural areas Tk 20 crore each for infrastructure development in the next five years.

Noted personality Kamal Lohani, who tested positive for Covid-19, died at a city hospital yesterday morning.

Many people were seen waiting in a long queue at a Qatar Airways ticket counter in the city’s Tejgaon area yesterday, the first day of resumption of international flight operations to and from Dhaka after nearly three months.

Flight operations on the international routes, except China, will resume today on a limited scale after over three months’ suspension of flights to and from Bangladesh due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Thousands of readymade garment workers in Gazipur have been passing days in uncertainty as over four dozen factories remain closed for more than two months in the coronavirus fallout.

Mohammed Nasim, a veteran Awami League leader and a frontline figure in almost all democratic movements in the country, died at a city hospital yesterday.

State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Md Abdullah passed away last night at the Dhaka Central Military Hospital. He was 75.

The proposed budget for 2020-21 has frustrated the country’s aviation industry, with officials of different airlines pointing out that there was no mention of a bailout despite it being one of the hardest hit sectors for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most political parties were critical about the proposed budget in their initial reaction yesterday, terming it “as usual” and expressing doubts whether it would be possible to achieve the targets.

Japan has barred Biman from operating special chartered flights to repatriate stranded citizens to and from Japan after four Bangladeshi passengers on a recent repatriation flight tested positive for Covid-19 despite having documents certifying that they had tested negative and were safe to travel.

The government has planned to resume regular passenger flight operations on international routes on a limited scale from third week of June after over two-and-a-half-months of suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As many as 43 staffers and officials of parliament secretariat have been infected with Covid-19 so far while the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban goes into budget session on Wednesday.

In the wake of rising Covid-19 deaths and infections across the country, the government today starts enforcing containment zones on a pilot basis in some areas of four districts, including Dhaka.

The government has so far suspended 87 public representatives for alleged corruption in relief distribution among the poor during Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 946 Bangladeshi citizens, most of whom are migrant workers, returned to the country by four special flights from Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Russia in the 24 hours since Thursday morning.

Biman has now begun offering chartered flights on domestic routes due to frequent cancellations of all scheduled passenger flights over the last four days.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines cancelled all its 24 flights scheduled to operate yesterday and today on three domestic routes due to lack of passengers.