General holidays extended till May 16

The government has extended the ongoing general holidays till May 16 in a bid to prevent the transmission of the deadly coronavirus or COVID-19.

The Public Administration Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard on Monday (May 4) noon.

Various emergency services will remain out of the purview of the shutdown, the notification said.

The government on March 23 declared general holidays from March 26 to April 4, aiming to protect people from being infected by the fast spreading virus as elsewhere in the world.

Later, the holidays were extended five times until April 25 -– first from April 5 to April 9, then from April 10 to April 14, later from April 15 to April 16, then again from April 17 to April 25 and finally from April 25 to May 5.

However, a notification issued on April 25 also included directive that all the ministries, divisions and their subordinate offices involved in providing emergency services will remain open on limited scale during the extended general holidays.


Dhaka/Naymuddin/AI