With the capital in shutdown, people who need to urgently reach hospitals have been left in the lurch mainly due to a dearth of vehicles.

People need to have strong mental connection with each other at this time of social distancing, said a noted physiatrist while talking about fighting coronavirus.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines yesterday decided that it will suspend flights on its two remaining routes to London and Manchester from March 30 till April 7, marking a temporary halt to all its flights, both international and domestic.

Ignatius Rozario, a Bangladeshi living in Milan, is acutely depressed. The 45-year-old man who always likes to dress up and look sharp now has a black-and-grey beard after staying home for two weeks amid Italy’s countrywide lockdown.

Four more people have tested positive for novel coronavirus in the country, taking the number of confirmed cases to 48, said the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) yesterday.

We condemn the official who issued it, commend the one who withdrew it and ask the question why was it necessary?

Anwara Begum was seeking alms sitting in front of her shanty at the capital’s Bhashantek slum with the summer sun dipping towards the horizon yesterday.

A large number of foreigners are leaving Bangladesh as the government has put the country on a 10-day shutdown since Thursday to prevent contagious spread of coronavirus.

The government yesterday said the factories making protective equipment against coronavirus or working on previous orders can remain open.

World Health Organization has chided some countries for wasting time in marshalling resources to combat the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 21, 000 people worldwide as G20 leaders yesterday pledged support for developing countries to cope with the economic fallout.

In the face of a huge outcry, the information ministry last night cancelled its circular assigning 15 officials to monitor if private television channels were running any propaganda or rumours about the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The roads are empty. People are hunkering down at home and not coming out other than for essential needs at the kitchen markets, supershops, and pharmacies.

At least 30 beds for as many policemen are crammed into a dorm room of about 450sqft at Mohammadpur Police Camp in the capital.

Inadequate intensive care facilities across the country remain a major concern in treating elderly Covid-19 patients who are deemed most vulnerable to the deadly virus, say experts and health officials.

Yesterday, the main gate of the mausoleum remained closed and the authorities refused entry to people who gathered there in the morning.

It was truly unprecedented for the Dhaka dwellers. On the first day a 10-day shutdown, imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus, they woke up yesterday to a city that they never had seen before.

The prices of essentials, including rice, vegetables, cooking oil, spices, and cleaning items, have increased several folds over the last one week.

For the first time, the IEDCR yesterday said novel coronavirus might have spread at the community level but “on a limited scale”.

The Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab) yesterday urged people to keep reading newspapers, citing research findings that newspapers do not spread coronavirus.

“Why can’t I become a freedom fighter? I, too, took training. If we die, we will die together,” Rama Das had saidto her fiancé in 1971.