Bangladesh extends closure of education institutions

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", reports Xinhua news agency 

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 shutdown 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 had first announced the closure of all educational institutions in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the pandemic. 

Since March 2020, the virus has spread to nearly every Bangladeshi district, and the total number of cases has increases to 904,436 with 14,388 deaths.