Bangladesh extends nationwide shutdown amidst rise in COVID-19 cases

Bangladesh on Friday extended the nationwide shutdown by 11 more days until April 25, enforcing a virtual curfew after 6 PM after six persons died of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 27, officials said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 424, health officials said.

"The countrywide holiday will continue until April 25," a spokesman of Prime Minister's Office said as the ongoing shutdown was set to end on April 14.

"Six more COVID-19 patients died in the past 24 hours and the death toll now stands at 27... 94 more people have been tested positive, taking the total number of infected people to 424," the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) director Meerjady Sabrina Flora said in her daily briefing.

The overnight infection figure is the highest rise in one day since Bangladesh reported its first three COVID-19 cases on March 8.

A government notification immediately followed his comments, saying no one would be allowed to go out of their homes after 6 PM from Friday onwards and people to be found violating the order would be exposed to legal actions.

The notification simultaneously reminded all the extra-ordinary nature of the holidays unlike the usual general holidays and asked all including government employees to obey strictly five specific directives that included strict restrictions on peoples' movement from one area to another.