DHAKA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government has announced to extend the closure of the educational institutions till Feb. 20 in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19.
"We've decided to keep schools and other educational institutions closed until Feb. 20," Bangladeshi Education Minister Dipu Moni told journalists Wednesday after the country's National Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19 has advised keeping educational institutions closed for a few more days.
If the situation improves, she said, they will consider reopening educational institutions later.
Earlier, the Bangladeshi Cabinet Division said schools, colleges and equivalent educational institutions will remain closed until Feb. 6.
The minister, however, said online academic activities of all schools and colleges will continue as usual.
Since March 2020, the virus has spread to every Bangladeshi district, and the total number of cases has risen to 1,824,180 with 12,193 new infections on Wednesday.
The country also reported 36 new deaths, taking the death toll to 28,461.
A total of 4,203 people recovered on Wednesday, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,575,137, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data showed.
The Bangladeshi authorities have already launched booster shots and started imposing stringent rules to combat the fresh spike in COVID-19 infections, as well as the Omicron variant.
Also, the Bangladeshi government has recently started a special campaign to bring "marginal people" under vaccination, which allows people to get vaccinated without registration at mobile vaccination clinics. ■