Wasim Bin Habib

Deaths from Covid-19 hit a new high as the authorities said another 15 people died in 24 hours till 2:30pm yesterday, taking the official death toll to 75.

At the crack of dawn today, an air of festivity was supposed to flow across the country.

Bangladesh’s tremendous growth momentum in recent years is set to come to a crashing halt for the coronavirus outbreak in the country, with the poor and informal sector bearing the most brunt, said the World Bank yesterday.

The government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been plagued by inappropriate decisions, delayed actions and muddled thinking -- right from the beginning.

Things look ominous as coronavirus infections keep surging in the country with the authorities reporting five new deaths and 41 confirmed cases yesterday, the highest in a single day.

Dhaka city has been virtually paused. Streets are almost empty, shops shuttered, restaurants closed, families cloistered at home -- all attempted to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

“We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test.”

As Bangladesh enters fourth week since it reported the first Covid-19 case, public health experts now call for expanding and speeding up the testing process immediately to understand the scale of the outbreak.

Anwara Begum was seeking alms sitting in front of her shanty at the capital’s Bhashantek slum with the summer sun dipping towards the horizon yesterday.

It was truly unprecedented for the Dhaka dwellers. On the first day a 10-day shutdown, imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus, they woke up yesterday to a city that they never had seen before.

One of the most densely populated cities in the world has been reduced to an eerie look of emptiness.

The government has repeatedly been asking people to stay home in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. It also announced closure of all public and private offices to make people stay indoors.

Confusion spread over the decision to put Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha under lockdown yesterday, after a upazila committee to contain coronavirus, led by the UNO, made the recommendation to do so in a letter to the district administration.

A confusion has emerged over the decision to put Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha under lockdown, after a upazila committee to contain coronavirus, led by a UNO, made the recommendation to do so in a letter to the district administration.

The government must scale up its efforts to trace and quarantine all the people who might have come in contact with the coronavirus patients to contain the spread of the virus, say experts.

Bangladesh yesterday confirmed the first death from the novel coronavirus, the victim being a man in his early seventies, amid growing public anxiety over the government’s preparations to contain the spread of the virus.

“The killers’ bullets took away the Father of the Nation. They tried to erase his name from the history of Bangladesh.

Countries around the world are taking various drastic measures to try to stop the rapid spread of the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19. But the steps and guidelines given by Bangladesh government so far for the educational institutions seem not only to be hilarious but also far from reality.

Bangladeshi expatriates in some European counties, especially in Italy, find themselves in a precarious situation amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, with many of them left with no jobs and stuck at home without adequate supply of daily essentials.

As part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus infections, the government is converting six hospitals in and around the capital into facilities for treating COVID-19 patients.