Rashidul Hasan

Although the government had announced that shopping centres and malls would reopen today ahead of Eid, most owners in Dhaka and Chattogram cities have decided to keep the establishments closed as the number of Covid-19 cases keeps surging in the country.

A government-appointed committee has said the Covid-19 outbreak may peak in the weeks around the Eid, but several independent experts said it is too early to make such a prediction.

Stating that Covid-19 pandemic was badly affecting the police department, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday instructed the authorities to give priority to the treatment of police members.

In a major progress, 95 percent boro paddy in haor areas has been harvested till yesterday despite a shortage of harvesters due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After around a month, the government yesterday lifted restrictions on people gathering at mosques, but said the mosque authorities must follow some health guidelines.

Even a month ago, small trader Didar Hossain had quite a decent life.

More than one lakh doctors, nurses and staff of 69 private medical colleges and hospitals will not get any bonus during the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, but will get their full salaries.

The government has suspended all hajj activities following lukewarm response from intended hajis and advice from Saudi Arabia amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus fallout and slumping oil prices may lead to the deportation of up to 10 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers from Saudi Arabia in the next three to five years, according to the Bangladesh mission there.

Allowing Bangladeshis returning from abroad, especially the Middle East, to go into self-quarantine poses a big risk for public health. To avert that, the authorities concerned should arrange institutional quarantine facilities for the returnees and make it mandatory, recommended experts.

The government is likely to extend the ongoing shutdown for most public and private offices until May 16.

Sonali Bank has approved a loan of Tk 1,000 crore to Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which sought Tk 1,500 from the state-owned bank as it was reeling from a fund crisis due to ongoing global travel restrictions thanks to Covid-19 pandemic.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is working to resume operations of domestic and international flights on a limited scale after May 8 if the coronavirus situation improves or remains steady by then.

Thousands of garment workers yesterday returned to work in industrial belts in Dhaka and elsewhere amid the nationwide shutdown, raising fears of a rapid spread of the novel coronavirus.

The government yesterday decided to waive the demurrage fees on the storage of imported raw materials of garment items piled up at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) warehouse.

The government of Bahrain this month declared an amnesty programme for undocumented migrant workers to get regularised. This should come as good news for undocumented Bangladeshi workers in the Gulf nation, about 30,000 of whom are expected to avail the programme which runs until December 31 this year.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has sought a Tk 1,500 crore loan from the state-owned Sonali Bank as the national flag carrier has been reeling from a severe cash crunch amid global travel restrictions owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The government yesterday extended the ongoing shutdown of most of the public and private offices till May 5 in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

Although the state-owned Bangladesh Television has started broadcasting in Middle East and North Africa recently on a pilot basis, private TV channels from Bangladedsh are still out of reach in the regions, limiting some 70 lakh Bangladeshi migrants from knowing about their homeland’s present situation amid coronavirus outbreak.

With several thousand Bangladeshis passing days in hardship in stranded situations in India for over a month, the government yesterday urged Bangladeshi citizens to have patience, assuring them of their gradual repatriation after bringing back patients from South India.