B'desh army to tighten vigilance in COVID-19 red zones

The Bangladesh government has decided to deploy troops in the areas flagged as COVID-19 red zones to address the pandemic, it was reported on Tuesday.

Army personnel were currently patrolling the East Rajabazar area of Dhaka which was put under experimental lockdown due to a high coronavirus infection rate, the bdnews24 report said.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate said: "Troops will increase patrols in the red zones in line with the government order."

The national committee for tackling the coronavirus outbreak has identified 45 areas in Dhaka as red zones.

It will take some more time to enforce lockdowns in those areas after completing all preparations, the authorities said.

The army will work in coordination with other government agencies and the people in the red zones, ISPR Director Abdullah Ibn Zaid told bdnews24.

The government ended the shutdown of offices and the public transportation system on May 31, but put some restrictions in place, after a two-month lockdown.

COVID-19 cases and deaths have since surged.

It later decided to categorise areas red, green and yellow zones based on the rate of coronavirus infections and deaths.

On Monday, the Cabinet Division issued instructions on how to work within the marked areas.

So far, Bangladesh has reported a total of 90,619 COVID-19 cases, with 1,209 deaths.

( With inputs from IANS )