Bangladesh extends closure of education institutions as COVID-19 cases surpass 900,000

The Bangladeshi government has extended the ongoing closure of educational institutions for another month in light of the current COVID-19 situation in the country which goes into nationwide lockdown from July 1.

The country's Ministry of Education announced the decision on Tuesday, saying that "all secondary and higher secondary level educational institutions, including Islamic schools, would remain closed till July 31."

Previously the closure was extended in phases till June 30.

Online academic activities of all schools and colleges will continue as usual, it added.

The latest closure extension came a day after the Bangladeshi government declared a "total lockdown" from July 1 to 7 except for entities providing essential services to control the spread of the disease more effectively.

Bangladesh on March 16 last year first announced to close all educational institutions in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19.

Since March last year, the virus has spread to nearly every Bangladeshi district, and the total number of cases has risen to 904,436 with 14,388 deaths including 112 recorded on Tuesday.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said on Tuesday evening that a total of 7,666 new cases were recorded in the previous 24 hours as of 8:00 a.m. local time Tuesday.