The government has extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown for another week to prevent the transmission of coronavirus. However, shops and shopping malls have been exempted from this restriction.
The Cabinet Division in a circular on Sunday extended the ongoing restrictions on the movement of the members of public and resumption of inter-district transport. It will remain in force until May 23.
The ongoing restrictions will also remain valid during this time. Due to this reason, the tenure of the closure of educational institutions was also extended by another phase.
After the Eid holiday, some shops in the capital opened on Sunday. The number of shops that have opened increased a bit yesterday. However, no big shopping mall has been opened yet. They will resume business from Wednesday or Thursday.
Meanwhile, as nothing was clear in Sunday’s notification, there was confusion among many traders as to whether the shops and malls would remain open or not.
Helal Uddin, president of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, said yesterday, "After the notification was issued by the cabinet, many people wanted to know whether shops and markets will remain open. I had the opportunity to talk to the State Minister for Public Administration on my mobile phone last night. He (state minister) said that shops and markets can remain open in compliance with the health rules.”
He further said that Eid holiday is going on in most of the shops. They will open later this week. However, strict hygiene rules must be followed, he added.
Dewan Aminul Islam, president of Dhaka New Market Business Association, said the capital's New Market would open next Wednesday.
He said, “The weekly holiday of New Market area is Tuesday. We have already given notice to open the market from the next day (Wednesday).”
The government imposed restrictions from April 5 due to the sudden surge in coronavirus cases in the country. Although it was decided to keep the factories, government and private offices and banks open in accordance with the hygiene rules but the shops and public transport were not allowed to reopen.
Traders from different parts of the country including Dhaka's New Market, Gausia, Mirpur and Gulistan staged protests against the decision to close shops during the busy season ahead of Pahela Baishakh and the holy Eid-ul-Fitr.
They urged the government to keep the shops and malls open in compliance with the hygiene rules. Later, shops and shopping malls were allowed to reopen to give the traders a chance to do business before the Eid and Pahela Baishakh.
Stricter restrictions were enforced from April 14. Shops and malls were closed again. From April 25, the government allowed shops and stalls to remain open from 10 am to 8 pm.
Initially, the shops and malls were closed at 8 pm, but later the restriction was relaxed unofficially. As a result, traders got a chance to do business by keeping shops open until late night before Eid.
