Dhaka: Bangladeshi authorities have put Cox’s Bazar Municipality on lockdown declaring some areas in the district near the Rohingya refugee camps as coronavirus red zone for maximum risk of infection, a media reported said on Saturday.
The rate of COVID-19 infection in the district housing the world’s largest refugee camp has been rising rapidly for a week after the government ended the nationwide shutdown, reports bdnews24.
Md Kamal Hossain, the district administrator, said the local committee on coronavirus prevention made the decision to lock the municipality down in an emergency meeting on Friday.
The district has recorded 877 COVID-19 patients so far with Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila having the highest number of infections, 364.
In the Rohingya camps, 35 refugees have tested positive for the new virus.
In the COVID-19 lockdown order, the authorities have banned all sorts of private, family, social, and political gatherings.
After reopening offices and public transport system on May 31, the government said it would categorise areas as red, green and yellow zones with different sets of restrictions based on rates of infections and deaths.
Bangladesh has reported a total of 60,391 COVID-19 cases and 811 deaths so far. (IANS)
