"The committee has decided to recommend that the government goes for partial or modified lockdown in areas where the transmission rate is high," Prof Mohammod Shahidullah, NTAC chief, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Asked to elaborate the term "partial or modified", Shahidullah said, "It is tough to enforce a complete lockdown, so the concept is to identify and isolate Covid-19 patients and ensure that the patients and their whole families remain in quarantine."

"The partial or modified lockdown can be well defined after consultation with public health experts," he said, adding that the committee sat on Tuesday night to review the current situation.

According to the health directorate, the government has classified Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Chattogram as "high risk" zones. Four districts -- Rangamati, Rajshahi, Rajbari, and Narsingdi -- have been classified as "medium risk" zones while 27 have been bracketed as "low risk zone".

The chief of the technical committee also said they suggested that vigorous scientific research should be done to find out the reasons behind the second wave of Covid-19 and the strains responsible for it.

The committee also suggested that the government increases the number of general and ICU beds at hospitals for coronavirus patients.

The country yesterday reported 5,358 new cases, the highest for a single day since the first cases were reported on March 8 last year.

The number of daily cases hit the 5,000-mark for three straight days.