The authorities have ruled out reimposing a nationwide lockdown anytime soon to contain the coronavirus from spreading amid a resurgence of infections.
Director General of Health Services ABM Khurshid Alam told reporters at his office on Tuesday his directorate has not received instructions on a harsh lockdown from the government, reports bdnews24.com.
He said officials discussed ways to make people strictly follow the health rules.
People must wear masks and avoid crowds at restaurants, public transports, tourist spots and other places, Khurshid said, citing government directives.
Like most other nations, Bangladesh imposed the lockdown measures in March 2020 after COVID-19 infections began surging across the world.
During the lockdown, people were mostly housebound with offices, courts, educational institutions, factories, markets, shops, places of worship, flights, trains and public transport system shut down.
The government allowed the public transport system to resume operation and offices to reopen after the 66-day lockdown. Other activities also became almost normal gradually.
During the restart of the economy, the authorities had planned to impose lockdowns on particular areas where the number of coronavirus cases were on the rise, but did not go ahead with the plan.
After relatively lower positive reports in daily counts since December, the rate of infection has been rising since early March.
The death toll increased by 52 in past two days while the number of new cases surged by over 1,700 in Tuesday’s report.
Against this backdrop, Khurshid joined a meeting with Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus at the Prime Minister’s Office before speaking to the media on Tuesday.
He said they are putting the highest priority on making people wear masks.
The Directorate General of Health Services has been asked to take the help of the law-enforcing agencies to enforce the mask rules.
The government made masks mandatory out of homes by the end of July last year. Mobile courts were conducted to enforce the rules for some days at that time.
The strict measures were eased by the end of the year when the number of new coronavirus cases dropped.
Health Minister Zahid Maleque said on Monday that people will be fined again through the mobile courts for not wearing masks.