Bangladesh extends coronavirus lockdown for another week

Bangladesh has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown for yet another week to counter the spike in coronavirus infections, an official said on Monday. “The restrictions will continue for one more week from Thursday,” the government’s Chief Information Officer Surodh Kumar Sarker told reporters, referring to a senior officials’ meeting that reviewed the latest COVID-19 situation. Given the surge in new infections and deaths from the virus, the government on April 5 enforced a nine-day lockdown shutting offices, shopping malls and transport across Bangladesh. The shutdown was then extended until Wednesday as the situation worsened. Bangladesh saw the highest single-day increase in infections on April 9, with 7,462 new cases, and the highest daily death toll, 102, on Sunday.