Bangladesh declares countrywide strict lockdown
People being checked at a shopping mall in Dhaka
Amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, Bangladesh on Friday announced a hard lockdown from Monday for the next seven days.
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The country recorded 108 fatalities on Friday with over 5,000 infections prompting authorities to take tough measures. In April, the government had imposed a nationwide lockdown for one week.
The government had imposed several restrictions amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the districts while restricting movement.
In its latest move, the government has decided to close government and private offices and ordered citizens to stay home.
The government had earlier put at least seven districts under lockdown including Manikganj, Gazipur and Gopalganj amid a rise in coronavirus cases.
The country's vaccination drive was hit after India stopped its vaccine exports due to the second wave as Bangladesh scrambled for alternate supply. Authorities had begun inoculating citizens with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine procured from the Serum Institute of India.
Bangladesh's health ministry announced recently that it has signed a deal with China to buy the Sinopharm vaccine as it battles the virus.
In May, China had sent 5,00,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine as a gift as Bangladesh's foreign minister said the country would buy 40 to 50 million doses while signalling the vaccine could be co-produced in the country. Sinopharm vaccine has been given emergency use authorisation by the World Health Organization(WHO).
(With inputs from Agencies)