Nationwide lockdown has to be enforced rigorously

We welcome the government's latest decision to impose a week-long strict lockdown to curb the rapid transmission of the Covid-19 virus, starting from April 14. With both the daily death and infection rates caused by coronavirus at 63 and 7,462, respectively as of Friday morning, something more than just restrictions on public movements had to be initiated. We sincerely hope that the upcoming nationwide lockdown will turn out to be a timely move in the fight against the deadly virus.

According to a report published by The Daily Star on April 10, 2021, all public and private institutions except emergency services will remain closed during the lockdown. Also, public transport services will be suspended. Although these directives seem very convincing, the government has to ensure that they do no become a farce, as we are witnessing right now. Following the surge in Covid-19 cases since the second week of March, the government issued a 11-point directive and also, a seven-day restriction on public movement on April 4. While public transport and shopping malls were initially to be suspended, the former started to operate on the city streets again within just three days of the imposition of the restrictions, while the later has also reopened two days ago.