Mosque Gathering Restricted to 20 During Lockdown in Bangladesh

In the face of spiralling cases of COVID 19, the government of Bangladesh has restricted the number of people congregating in the mosques during the period of lockdown. The Religious Affairs Ministry has issued a directive that from April 14, a maximum of 20 people including the Imam, Hafez, Khaib, Muajjin and Khadim can congregate for prayers in the mosque.

The mosque administrators and law enforcement agencies have been asked to implement the safety guidelines issued by the ministry to contain the transmission of the COVID 19 virus.

Bangladesh continued to face mounting deaths due to the COVID 19 pandemic. On Monday, the country reported the



highest number of 83 deaths since the first corona positive case was detected in March last year.

Currently, the country is under a weeklong lockdown which will be followed by a ‘hard lockdown’ starting from Wednesday, April 14 for a week. During the hard lockdown, all government and non-government offices, public transport including road, railways, waterways and flights have been suspended. Schools and colleges in the country are already closed. Banks and financial institutions will also remain closed. Movement of people except under emergency situations will not be allowed. However, factories have been allowed to remain open with health directives in place.