Dhaka, June 16: The Bangladesh government on Wednesday extended the ongoing lockdown until July 15 as the COVID-19 infection rate remained alarming across the country. Social, political and religious gatherings will be banned during this period.

The Cabinet Division issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday afternoon, upon receiving approval from the Prime Minister's Office.  Bangladesh to Buy Sinopharm COVID-19 Vaccines from China

It said government offices, except emergency services, and educational institutions will remain closed, while everything else will remain open on a limited scale. Restaurants can operate at half capacity from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., but all tourist spots, resorts, community and entertainment centres will remain closed.

Public transport will also operate at half their capacity while maintaining health rules.

The existing lockdown was, on June 6, extended till June 16 midnight.

As many as 3,956 more COVID-19 cases were reported, after testing of 24,807 samples, including rapid antigen tests, in the last 24 hours, while 60 Covid-19 patients died in the period, raising the total deaths in the country to 13,282. The health directorate said a total of 773,752 have recovered from the highly infectious pandemic so far.

A total of 837,247 people were affected so far, as the COVID-19 rate, in the last 24 hours till 8 a.m. on Wednesday, was 16.62 per cent.

Bangladesh detected its first coronavirus patient on March 8, 2020 and recorded its first death on March 18, 2020.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2021 07:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).