Bangladeshis confined at home in strict lockdown
Issued on:
01/07/2021 - 02:56
The announcement of the lockdown last week sparked an exodus of migrant workers from Dhaka, with thousands cramming onto dangerously packed transport Munir UZ ZAMAN AFP
3 min
Dhaka (AFP)
Bangladesh went into a strict Covid-19 lockdown on Thursday, with the army and police ordered to stop people leaving their homes except for emergencies or to buy essentials.
The government says the South Asian nation of 168 million people is seeing an "alarming and dangerous" rise in cases, blamed largely on the highly infectious Delta variant.
Hospitals are struggling, particularly in areas bordering India where the strain was first detected. Some rural towns have recorded infection rates of 70 percent.