Dhaka restaurants can now sell takeaway iftar items

Owners must ensure buyers' physical distancing while selling iftar items, and no one will be allowed to eat inside the restaurants, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told The Daily Star newspaper on Monday.

Dhaka, April 28 Restaurants in Dhaka can sell takeaway iftar items from Tuesday onwards amid an ongoing lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, police in the Bangladeshi capital said.

Owners must ensure buyers' physical distancing while selling iftar items, and no one will be allowed to eat inside the restaurants, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), told The Daily Star newspaper on Monday.

The restaurants will not be permitted to set up any stalls outside their premises on footpaths as the DMP has decided not to allow any sale of iftar items on streets to ensure social distancing, he said.

In another development, the DMP said shops selling daily necessities in neighbourhoods and alleys in the capital will be open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. from Tuesday.

Medicine stores and emergency service providers will be outside the purview of the restrictions, Rahman told The Daily Star.

A countrywide shutdown has been in force since March 26 to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus which has so far infected 5,913 people and claimed the lives of 152 others.

( With inputs from IANS )