Bangladesh authorities relaxed a strict COVID-19 lockdown ahead of the upcoming Muslim holiday Qurban Bayram​, also known as Eid al-Adha, which is set to be celebrated in the South Asian country July 21-23.

"To celebrate Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), the government has relaxed all the COVID-19 restrictions from July 14 midnight to July 23 early morning," said the notification, adding: "But, in all situations, people must stay alert, use facemasks and strictly follow health instructions."

Qurban Bayram is the second most significant holiday in the Islamic world following Ramadan Bayram, also known as Eid al-Fitr.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a spike in the pandemic for the last couple of days with the deadly delta variant, first detected in neighboring India, spreading fast.

To stem the spread of the virus, the South Asian delta nation of nearly 170 million people imposed a countrywide lockdown starting from July 1 with the deployment of military forces.

Bangladesh has so far registered 16,639 deaths and over 1.3 million infections. The country has already administered more than 10.3 million doses of vaccine.

Bangladesh started a nationwide vaccination drive this February by administering the British-Swedish jab manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. But in May, the country had to postpone the inoculation as India stopped shipment of vaccines due to its own internal crisis.