Public transports to stay put till April 25

The government has extended the ongoing suspension of all types of public transport operations till April 25 -- to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The Road Transport and Highways Division took the decision yesterday, said Abu Naser, deputy chief information officer of Road Transport and Bridges Ministry.

However, all goods-laden vehicles and vehicles transporting emergency services including daily essentials, fuel, medicine and media outfits will remain out of the purview of this suspension, he said.

No goods-laden vehicle would be allowed to carry passengers.

This is the second time the government extended the suspension on the operation of public transports in line with closure of all public and private offices.

At first stage, the government closed all public and private offices from March 26 to April 4 and operation of public transports was also suspended for the same period.

With the number of coronavirus cases increasing, the government on Friday extended the shutdown till April 25.

In addition, suspension of Bangladesh's air-communications with 16 countries has been extended till April 30.

The countries are the UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bhutan, India, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Turkey, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh said yesterday.

Flights to different domestic destinations will also remain suspended until April 30, CAAB said in a statement.

Operations of cargo flight, air ambulance, aid operation through air, special flight and emergency landing will remain out of the purview of the suspension. Bangladesh now has air communications with only China.

The government primarily suspended air communications with different countries from March 16 to March 31. Later it was extended till April 15 in two phases.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court yesterday extended the ongoing holiday for all the courts across the country including its Appellate and High Court Divisions till April 25 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain took the decision at a meeting with the judges of the Appellate Division at his official residence in the capital's Kakrail yesterday.

The Supreme Court has so far extended the court holiday for three times beginning on March 25.

Supreme Court's Registrar General Md Ali Akbar issued two separate circulars in this regard.

In a circular it has been stated the apex court judges decided that the court functions should not be kept open on a short scale amid the ongoing coronavirus spread as judges, lawyers, officials and staff members need to gather for running the court activities, which may cause harm to their health.

Another circular said the ad-interim orders passed by the courts earlier -- giving bails to the accused, stay of trial proceedings of cases and directives for surrender of the accused to lower courts -- will be extended for two weeks after reopening of the courts.

Besides, one or multiple magistrates will remain standby at all the metropolitan and district areas as usual in order to deal with urgent cases like remand prayers, according to the circular.