AMN/ WEB DESK
The government of Bangladesh will impose more stringent restrictions in view of the rising cases of COVID 19 infection in the country with the Omicron variant also showing a rise.
Briefing media after the virtual cabinet meeting Chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said that students above the age of 12 must get at least one dose of the COVID 19 vaccine to physically attend the school.
Informing about the discussion of the Cabinet, he said that the government has decided that people will need to show vaccination certificates to eat in restaurants, travel in train and aeroplane, visit malls and the ongoing international trade fair as well as other public places. He said that the decision will be implemented after some time based on the opinion of the national technical advisory committee, reports the official news agency BSS.
He said that if the COVID situation worsens further, public transport will be restricted to allow only 50 percent occupancy. Public gathering in social, political or religious programmes will also have to be limited, said the Cabinet Secretary.
The Cabinet Secretary said that no decision has been taken to impose a lockdown yet.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh reported 10 more cases of the Omicron variant in the country taking the total number of people infected by it to 20. The daily infection also went up past 1000 on Thursday with 1140 fresh cases being reported. This is the highest single-day infection in more than 3 months. The sample positivity rate climbed up to 4.86 percent as on Thursday.