Last year’s prolonged shutdown had left Ainal Haque with no option but to give up driving inter-city buses and take up driving a three-wheeler to survive the economic shock.

Although there were not that many people and only a handful of vehicles or rickshaws on roads on the first day of the countrywide seven-day “strict lockdown” on Wednesday, the scenario quickly changed yesterday.

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday said Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will take the decision about keeping the court proceedings across the country functional or suspended during the present coronavirus situation.

The 50th martyrdom anniversary of five members of the family of Saidur Rahman, Founder (President) of Projonmo ’71 will be observed tomorrow, said a press release.

Bangladesh hopes Malaysia would play an instrumental role to move the issue of Rohingya refugees forward within Asean and help achieve a durable solution to the crisis.

The South Asian governments must ensure that vulnerable groups are not excluded from access to Covid-19 vaccines, said Amnesty International yesterday, calling on the international community to enable vaccine production at the national-level to address supply shortage across the region.

The number of children in the labour market may increase due to the income reduction of people in the current Covid-19 pandemic, said lawmaker Md Mujibul Haque, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee of the Ministry of Labour and Employment yesterday.

Bangladesh Railway (BR) will operate special parcel trains to facilitate farmers to transport their farm products during the weeklong strict restrictions starting today.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has decided to keep the normal judicial functions of courts closed in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from today (April 14) to April 21 in line with the restrictions imposed the by the government.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed yesterday urged people to strictly follow the lockdown restrictions and stay home to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Maqbul Ahmed, former Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam, died of coronavirus at a hospital in Dhaka yesterday afternoon.

Farid Ahmed, a national award-winning music director, passed away at a hospital in Dhaka yesterday. He was 60.

People were seen rushing out of the port city, facing almost no hindrance yesterday, the last day before enforcement of a weeklong lockdown throughout the country. Although the government asked residents to not move from their location, initiatives from the administration to compel people to comply with the directive were absent on the roads.

The government has appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Md Asaduzzaman as the chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

The failure, mismanagement and corruption of the government were more responsible than people’s indifference to maintain safety protocol in transmission of coronavirus in the country, said Workers Party of Bangladesh yesterday.

Expressing disappointment over the “sorry state” of the country’s healthcare system, Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader yesterday said the government’s reluctance in ensuring treatment of people is clear to all.

A total of 409 pedestrians were killed on roads and highways in 398 accidents in January-March this year.

As the economic effects of the lockdown intensifies, lower to middle income people of Khulna keep finding it harder and harder to meet their grocery bills. In such a dire time, subsidised daily necessities courtesy of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) should be a saving grace. But its shortage in its stocks compared to the people’s needs.

Yesterday was the last day of this year’s Ekushey Boimela. Marked by a delayed start and a lockdown announcement midway, the book fair -- originally scheduled to end on April 14 -- ended two days earlier due to the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin yesterday said the state will take necessary initiative for the Supreme Court’s hearing on the 2017 review petition challenging its verdict which upheld the cancellation of the 16th constitutional amendment that restored parliament’s power to remove judges for incapacity or misconduct.