All schools, colleges and universities will remain closed until Apr 9, says the education  ministry.

The decision came on Tuesday (Mar 24) from an inter-ministry meeting, said Abul Khayer, the public relations officer for the education ministry.

Earlier in the day, the government announced its decision to suspend domestic flights, public road transport, launch vessels and trains amid the growing coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, Bangladesh government declared a 10-day shutdown, effective from Mar 26 to Apr 4, to battle the spread of the coronavirus.

Both the private and public sectors, except emergency services, would come to a temporary halt.

Educational institutions will stay closed during this period but banks will remain open to facilitate the financial transaction for their clients.

On Tuesday morning, Bangladesh’s armed forces were deployed to assist the administration in every divisional and district town to ensure that people maintain social distance and are taking precautionary measures to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading further.

Covid-19, a new strain of coronavirus, which was first reported in China’s Wuhan has killed at least 16,558 people across the world and infected 381,649 till date.

At least 102,429 people have recovered from the virus which has spread to 195 countries.