The authorities of the Dhaka New Market have decided not to reopen the market before Eid-ul-Fitr amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
New Market Shop Owners' Association President Dewan Aminul Islam has confirmed the matter on Friday night.
Earlier, the authorities of Bashundhara City Shopping Complex and Jamuna Future Park, two of the capital’s biggest shopping malls, decided not to reopen before Eid in a bid to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The government on Tuesday allowed businessmen to keep shops and shopping malls open for six hours from 10am to 4pm every day from May 10, upon maintaining health guidelines during the general holidays.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have issued a set of instructions to the authorities of shopping malls in the capital set to open on May 10, ahead of the Eid.
According to the DMP notice - markets can be kept open from 10am to 4pm, but temporary shops will not be allowed in public places or on sidewalks.
Shoppers will have to shop in malls within 2km of their residence. They will have to carry valid proof of identity mentioning address with them for verification of their residential areas.
Since the countrywide shutdown was enforced by the government to halt the spread of the Covid-19, shopping malls had remained closed.
Meanwhile, the leaders of business organisations in Sylhet and Chittagong cities have unanimously decided not to open shopping malls and markets before Eid.
A meeting, chaired by Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury, took the decision on Friday, considering the health risk for the city people amid the coronavirus spread.
In Chittagong, owners and representatives from 10 markets and shopping malls, chaired by Zakir Hossain, president of Mimi Super Market Business Association in the port city, decided to keep their shops shut till May 31.
Till Friday, Bangladesh has 13,134 confirmed coronavirus cases and 206 deaths.
