Close shops by 8 pm: Mayor Taposh

Dhaka, Mar 24:  Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has urged the shopkeepers and owners of business establishments to close those by 8 pm to prevent the transmission of Covid-19.The DSCC mayor came up with the request while talking to reporters after visiting Gopibagh Boys’ Club field in the city on Wednesday.
“I’ve two requests to Dhaka dwellers — please close shops and all business establishments by 8 pm as the Coronavirus infection rate is on the rise again,” the mayor said.
The government has issued a public notice in this regard, he said, adding that the transmission rate will come down if health safety protocols are maintained.
DSCC Chief Executive Officer ABM Amin Ullah, Chief Waste Management Officer Air Commodore Md Badrul Amin, Chief Engineer Rezaur Rahman, Secretary Akramuzzaman were, among others, present.
Meanwhile, 3,554 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in Bangladesh in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, the highest number of infections registered by the country in a single day.
Bangladesh also recorded 18 more Covid-related deaths during the period, raising the death toll to 8,738.
With the fresh cases, Bangladesh has seen the worst daily increase since July 15, 2020, pushing up the total infections to 525,994. The infection rate jumped to 13.69 percent from 11.19 percent a day before.
Bangladesh is seeing an alarming rise in coronavirus infections in the past few weeks after a downtrend in both the death toll and new cases.
On January 19, Bangladesh reported its virus infection rate at just 5 percent and at one stage it fell below 3 percent. The cases have started soaring again since February 9.
Bangladesh reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 the same year.
In Bangladesh, Covid-19 tests are conducted at 118 government and private hospitals, reports UNB.