Members of police and armed forces have been continuing their efforts to strictly maintain social distancing alongside ensuring home quarantine to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus.
They also sprayed disinfectants on the streets and distributed food and relief materials among the poor and destitute people.
Police and members of armed aorces started taking an aggressive stance from Thursday, forcing people to stay indoors across the country, reports UNB.
Deputy Commissioner (Media)) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman said DMP members have been performing their duties very strictly from Thursday to ensure that people do not come out of their homes unnecessarily.
Police set up a large number of check posts across the city on Saturday. They intercepted people who were unnecessarily came out from homes and sent them back, the DC (Media) said.
The number of vehicles, including private cars and auto-rickshaws, was thin on Saturday compared to the last several days since the government announced holidays from March 26 in an effort to curb transmission of the virus.
DMP has sprayed disinfectant in Ranma, Tejgaon, Lalbagh, Wari, Mirpur, Gulshan, Uttara and Motijheel on Saturday. It has been spraying disinfectants since March 25. “This programme will continue,” DC Rahman said.
DMP has been distributing 2,500 packets of relief materials every day following instruction from DMP Commissioner Shafiqul Islam since April 1, he said.
Besides, police members have also been distributing cooked food and relief materials among the destitute so that no one goes hungry.
The government announced general holidays from March 26 and later extended that until March 9 asking people to stay home and maintain social distancing and overseas returnees to remain in compulsory 14-day home-quarantine to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
But many people appeared reluctant to follow the directive and came out of their homes unnecessarily.
On March 23, the government decided to deploy the Armed Forces to aid the civil administration. They have been working across the country in full swing from March 25.
The army started taking a tough stance from Thursday morning. They were seen conducting various activities in the city.
Army men have conducted awareness campaigns, said Assistant Director of ISPR Rashedul Alam Khan, adding that they also sprayed disinfectant water on the city streets on Saturday.
Bangladesh has so far reported eight coronavirus deaths and 70 cases.
