Bangladesh plans nationwide holiday amid soaring COVID-19 cases

DHAKA: Bangladesh is planning to enforce a nationwide general holiday on April 14 to contain the cases of coronavirus as the country reported 5,819 new cases of COVD-19 in the last 24 hours, including former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, a senior health official said on Sunday.

The decision to execute the nationwide holiday came as the country also witnessed 78 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.

"There are plans to enforce a nationwide general holiday to contain the infection spike from April 14, tightening an existing lockdown," the senior health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

He said restrictions under the general holiday is being worked out. The total number of coronavirus cases in Bangladesh has so far reached to 6,84,756 cases with 5,819 new cases in the last 24 hours.

Zia tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, a year after she was released from jail temporarily amidst the pandemic.

The 75-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief's samples were sent to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, for testing on Saturday, Maidul Islam Prodhan, Public Relations Officer of the Health Ministry, was quoted as saying in a media report.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir later at a media briefing acknowledged the test result saying she was now being treated at her house by a private doctor but said "her health condition is stable".