The government on Monday decided to allow shops and malls to remain open till 4pm from May 10 maintaining health guidelines, considering Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.
However, the decision to reopen Dhaka’s busiest New Market amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will be taken on May 9 by the executive committee of its shop owners association.
President of New Market Shop Owners Association Dewan Aminul Islam Shahin confirmed the matter on Wednesday, reports Bangla Tribune.
He said: “We are going to discuss with shop owners whether it is possible or not to reopen New Market maintaining the hygiene directives. The final decision regarding this will be made on May 9.”
“I have told the authorities concerned that the coronavirus situation here has now worsened. As a human being, I would say that saving our lives comes before anything else. We are not going to take a decision which will jeopardize our wellbeing, also of our employees, our customers, and above all, our country’s,” he added.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, authorities of Bashundhara City Shopping Complex and Jamuna Future Park, two of the capital’s biggest shopping malls, decided not to reopen before Eid-ul-Fitr due to the coronavirus crisis.
Since the countrywide shutdown was enforced by the government to halt the spread of the Covid-19, shopping malls had remained closed.
As of Wednesday, Bangladesh confirmed 11,719 coronavirus cases with the death toll rising to 186 after three new fatalities were reported.
Till now the fast-spreading coronavirus has claimed more than 259,000 lives and infected more than 3,757,000 people globally, according to Worldometer.
As many as 1,258,552 people have recovered from Covid-19, which has spread to 210 countries and territories across the world.
