The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has formulated a 39-point guideline for operators, passengers and crew members as precautionary measures in order to operate domestic and international flights in future amid the spread of COVID-19. In a circular issued on Sunday, CAAB chairman Air Vice-Marshal M Mafidur Rahman said, 'Allocation of seats in the aircraft shall be done keeping in mind the segregation process (minimum 25 per cent seat vacant) so that social distancing is maintained.'

'Always keep at least one seat gap if the passengers are not from same family and last/first one row of the seat vacant for any suspected passengers,' the notification read. The CAAB chairman told New Age that they were planning to open the flight soon. In the guidelines, the CAAB said, 'Adequate hand sanitiser and tissue paper shall be made available for passengers at final boarding counter. Passengers shall be allowed to carry small hand sanitiser bottle (max 100 ml) in their carry-on baggage'.

Lawyers in Patuakhali and Tangail have decided not to attend virtual courts ignoring the instruction of the Supreme Court citing their inefficiency in the technology. Bar associations at the two districts took the decisions in meetings held on Wednesday and Tuesday. Patuakhali District Bar Association president Obaidul Alam after the meeting said that members of association decided not to join the virtual courts as most of them had no smartphone, lesser internet bandwidth in the district and majority of them had no training on such technology.

The executive committee of Tangail District Bar Association on Tuesday took similar decision on similar grounds. The committee also called for operating courts through any other substitute way to maintain social distancing. The bar association also convened a meeting of its extended committee today. The association general secretary AKM Nasimul Aktar said that they had decided to send letter to law ministry and other offices concerned regarding their decision.

Three days after reopening, the local administration closed down all the shopping malls and business establishments in Manikganj and Tangail from Wednesday, Thursday respectively as part of the fight against coronavirus transmission. In Manikganj, Deputy Commissioner of the district SM Ferdous came up with a public notice in this regard on Tuesday. After the reopening on May 10, the administration noticed that people started flocking the shopping malls and business establishments without maintaining social distancing rules raising the risk of further spread of coronavirus.

Reviewing the situation, the local administration decided to close all the shopping mall in the town. According to the notice, in the last three days, the authorities concerned found shoppers and shopkeepers largely reluctant about maintaining social distancing rules in defiance of the government instruction. Under the circumstances, the local administration has decided to close all the shops, shopping malls, markets and business establishments from Wednesday, considering the safety of people.

A total of 1,926 police members got infected with coronavirus as of Wednesday. Meanwhile, among the total coronavirus-infected police members, 907 are from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) alone, sources at Police Headquarters told UNB. In the meantime, seven members of the law enforcement agency died from COVID-19, the sources said.

At present, 4,961 policemen are in quarantine while 1,159 are being treated at isolation units of different hospitals. Besides, 298 patients made full recovery. Members of Bangladesh Police, Armed forces, and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), along with other agencies have been jointly working to ensure social distancing across the country. Meanwhile, 345 members of Armed Forces both in-service and retired military/civilian members and their families were admitted to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH) with coronavirus infection as of Monday.