The government of Bangladesh has decided to extend the general holiday till 16 May for the sixth time to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the country.

State minister for public administration Farhad Hossain confirmed this to Prothom Alo on Saturday.

The authorities have already sent a proposal to prime minister Sheikh Hasina to extend the shutdown to 15 May, he said.

That means, the holiday would effectively extend till 16 May as it is a weekly holiday.

A gazette notification regarding the extension of the holiday might be published on Sunday or Monday upon prime minister’s approval, Farhad added.

Earlier, the general holiday was declared between 26 March and 4 April in the first phase. Later, it was extended till 11 April and then to 14 April. It was extended to 25 April in fourth phase and later to 5 May.