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Published : 08 Jun 2025, 02:49 PM
The Ministry of Railways has urged all train passengers returning from their Eid-ul-Azha holidays to wear masks and follow health restrictions.
The request from the ministry came as cases of COVID-19 have crept up once again.
“In light of the recent increase in cases of the COVID-19 infection, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has requested everyone to wear masks in crowded areas. The elderly and the sick have been advised to avoid such places in particular,” the notice said.
As such, the Ministry of Railways has requested all passengers to wear masks on the return journey for Eid.
Five years ago, on Dec 31, 2019, the first case of the novel coronavirus was detected in China. Two months later, COVID-19 was detected in Bangladesh. After that, strict health and hygiene rules were imposed step by step, including the wearing of masks, amid concern and panic for three consecutive years.
Lockdowns led to cities and towns becoming deserted. Offices, courts, schools, and colleges were conducted online. People lost their jobs and became unemployed.
Strict restrictions were imposed at borders and airports, with air traffic suspended. The global supply chain collapsed, the price of the dollar shot up, and the prices of daily necessities were increased.
At the same time, hospitals were filled with COVID patients, many of whom died. After three years of the pandemic, cases began to decrease. Things have started gradually returning to normal since then.
Recently, there have been reports of a rise in infections due to a new strain of the virus known as “NB.1.8.1”. India’s Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi are now considered “hotspots of infection”. Cases in the country have crossed 5,000 as of Friday. Over the past 24 hours, 764 cases of the disease have been detected in India and four people have died.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Bangladesh also reported the death of one person in Dhaka due to COVID-19 on Thursday. It is the first death from the disease in Bangladesh in a year and a half.
The Ministry of Health has requested the public wear masks in public places to prevent the further spread of the infection.
According to the DGHS, 59 new cases of the coronavirus have been detected in the 24 hours to Friday morning.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Bangladesh has detected 2,051,739 cases after testing 15,726,224 samples. Of the patients, 29,500 have died.
No one died from the disease in 2024, but 2023 saw 37 deaths, while 2022 saw 1,368. The most fatal year was 2021, which saw 20,513 deaths. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the disease claimed 7,559 lives.
