Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country The government is going to extend the ongoing general holidays till May 16 to curb.

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain confirmed the matter today.

"We decided to extend the general holiday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will take initiatives regarding this," he said.

When asked how long will the holiday extend, the state minister said that the general holiday may be extended till May 16. A circular will be issued regarding this tomorrow.

Earlier on March 23, the government initially declared a 10-day shutdown, effective from March 26 to April 4, later gradually extended it till May 5.

Bangladesh today confirmed five more deaths from the novel coronavirus and 552 new cases of infection.

With this, the death toll from the deadly virus rose to 175 and the number of total infections stood at 8,790.