In the first public exams in nearly 20 months since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, around 2.2 million students began Sunday this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent exams in Bangladesh. The exams, which are usually held every year in February, began after over a nine-month delay, UNI-Xinhua said.  With the pandemic situation improving, Bangladesh's educational institutions were reopened in September this year on a limited scale.

Students in Dhaka entered the exam center in orderly queues, wearing masks and strictly maintaining other health safety guidelines. Infrared thermometers were installed at the exam centers to check students' body temperature. This year, the examinees are taking their exams with a shortened syllabus.

Bangladesh on March 16, 2020  first announced the closure of all educational institutions in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19. Since March last year, the virus has spread to nearly every Bangladeshi district with about 28,000 people having been officially declared to have died from the disease.

The country recorded the highest daily new cases of 16,230 on July 28 and the highest number of 264 deaths twice on Aug. 5 and Aug. 10, respectively. (SAM)