Brig Gen Md Sazzad Hussain, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said they are primarily suspecting that the explosion took place from accumulation of gas from a leakage.

When the cabinet division decided late on Saturday evening that the nationwide “total and complete” lockdown would be postponed from June 28 to July 1, and there would be a limited-scale or partial countrywide lockdown in the interim period, it left many asking what a “limited-scale” lockdown even meant.

Incidents of brutalities have increased alarmingly in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country in recent months with killing, sexual abuse and torture becoming rampant.

The same old pictures of thousands of people leaving the capital have returned as the country braces for another lockdown.

The government is working to take necessary measures to provide cash assistance and food, including rice, edible oil and other commodities to poor who are affected during the countrywide “strict lockdown” to be imposed from Thursday.

Compared to June 1, the number of beds occupied at hospitals in the capital more than doubled as of yesterday, showing how fast the health crisis induced by the Covid-19 is deepening across the city.

The government has rescheduled its countrywide lockdown from June 28 to July 1.

Faced with the harsh reality of vaccine nationalism, the government has planned to set up its own vaccine producing plant so that it is not dependent on other countries in future.

Bangladesh recorded 108 more deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours ending at 8:00am yesterday, which was the second highest death in a single day since the first positive cases were confirmed in the country on March 8 last year.

The prime minister has approved a proposal to scrap 10 coal-fired power plants that were okayed earlier.

A man killed in a “gunfight” between police and criminals in Rajshahi’s Godagari upazila early yesterday might have been involved in the rape and murder of a class-IV female student on Sunday, the law enforcers said.

Bangladesh will get 2.5 million doses of Moderna Covid vaccine within 10 days under the Covax facility, a global vaccine alliance.

The country will be put under a complete lockdown for seven days from Monday to stem the surge in Covid-19 cases.

A government official of the food department was assaulted in Shaynalpara area in Natore’s Bagatipara upazila allegedly by the men of the local ruling party lawmaker on Thursday night.

At least 264 Bangladeshis were rescued in the Mediterranean off the Tunisian coast on Thursday when they were trying to sail across the sea to Europe, according to the Bangladesh embassy in Libya.

Savar police disclosed the identity of a rape victim on their Facebook handle yesterday, violating the law and a court verdict.

Outbound migrant workers’ registration for Covid-19 vaccine is expected to begin sometime next week, the expatriates’ welfare ministry said yesterday.

Online shoppers can now make purchases with confidence after a commerce ministry decision yesterday that stipulated holding the payment of local e-commerce platforms until confirmation of safe delivery of items, adding a layer of consumer protection to the transaction.

Amid growing worries about the coronavirus situation in the country, health authorities logged 6,058 more Covid-19 cases in 24 hours till yesterday morning, up from 5,727 the previous day.

Just four years ago, Papia Sultana donated a kidney to save her husband Aman Vardar.