The Bangladesh government has announced five packages of 32 billion taka (some 372 million U.S. dollars) to help low-income groups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement of the support packages in a statement here on Tuesday.
According to the statement from the Prime Minister's Office, low-income people including day labourers, transport workers, small traders and water transport workers have been hit hard by the ongoing restrictions imposed due to the rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths will be supported through the packages.
To curb the virus transmission, Bangladesh on July 1 entered a strict one-week COVID-19 lockdown that has subsequently been extended till July 14 and army personnel have been deployed to patrol alongside civilian forces to maintain law and order.
The Bangladeshi government Monday said it would ease the ongoing lockdown for a week from July 15 to help Muslims prepare for the festival of animal sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, despite the recent surge in coronavirus cases.
On Tuesday, Bangladesh reported 12,198 new COVID-19 cases and 203 new deaths, making the case tally at 1,047,155 and death toll at 16,842, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
The official data showed that 41,755 samples were tested in the last 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time Tuesday across Bangladesh.
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