Dhaka, April 9 -- She says the country is at the third stage of the outbreak now as the number of COVID-19 cases has started to rise sharply while the entire world is grappling with the pandemic.

The country had already passed the first two stages - some imported cases and then local transmission from overseas returnees.

In the third stage now, people in large areas are getting infected from specific places.

The fourth stage is epidemic.

The number of new cases has been jumping daily since Apr 4 amid a nationwide shutdown of offices and transport system. As many as 21 of the 64 districts have known COVID-19 patients now.

On Wednesday, The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research reported 54 new confirmed coronavirus ca...