The State Administration Council issued an order (No.211/2021) on the night of July 14 announcing a long public holiday from July 17 to 25.

The order says those public holidays were announced to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 effectively.

The holidays also include July 17 (Saturday), July 18 (Sunday), July 19 (Martyrs’ Day), July 21 (Eid ul-Adha), July 23 (Full Moon Day of Waso), July 24 (Saturday) and July 25 (Sunday).  

The order, however, stresses the need to abide by the rules such as members of the public to stay at home or dormitories and not travel at all except for duty and funeral services; only shops selling basic essential things like fuel, drinking water, meat, fish and foodstuffs to open; shops selling medicines and medical supplies to open; restaurants to adopt a take-away system; healthcare services (government hospitals/private hospitals and clinics) to remain operative; members of the public to wear protective gears including masks if they go outside; members of the public to follow the COVID-19 health rules of the Ministry of Health and Sports and Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment for COVID-19 without fail.

Those failing to follow the rules shall face legal actions in accord with the existing laws, the order says.