District-based small and cottage enterprises to be reopened: PM

Some enterprises, including district-based small and cottage ones, will be reopened, ensuring health safety, in order to keep the wheels of the economy running, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

Since it is the holy month of Ramadan preceding Eid-al-Fitr, the government is also allowing some shops to reopen on conditions that they maintain coronavirus guidelines, including avoiding crowds, she said during a video conference on Monday.

And some other industrial factories that are also being allowed to come back into operation should also maintain health guidelines, the Prime Minister said.

Sheikh Hasina’s Monday video conference was held with public representatives and officials from eight districts in Rangpur division on the coronavirus situation in the country.

With the latest, she completed her video conference with public representatives and officials from all 64 districts under all eight divisions in the country.

During the videoconferences, she announced various stimulus packages and steps to face the virus impact, alongside issuing different directives to public representatives and officials to contain it.

The lethal virus has so far claimed 177 lives and infected 9,455 people in Bangladesh since the country first reported COVID-19 positive cases on March 08.

Globally, nearly 3.5 million people have been reportedly infected by the novel coronavirus and 244,874 have died in more than 212 countries and territories since the first cases were detected in China in December 2019.