Emboldened by the halt in anthrax cases among humans, the Bangladeshi government on Thursday lifted the red-alert but instructed the officials concerned to remain on high alert. The Bangladeshi government on Sept. 5 this year announced red- alert across the country following the spread of cutaneous human anthrax to different districts. Bangladesh's Fisheries and Livestock Minister Md Abdul Latif Biswas told reporters at a press briefing Thursday, 'The government has withdrawn the red- alert but asked the officials concerned to remain on high alert.' He further said, 'We've decided to lift red-alert as there is no information of fresh outbreak of the disease in the last few weeks.' Records of the Bangladesh's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) under the country's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has so far confirmed 607 anthrax infected people in the country. Mahmudur Rahman, chief of the IEDCR, had earlier said they are all infected with cutaneous anthrax. The anthrax outbreak first started in Bangladesh's Sirajganj district, some 134 km northwest of capital Dhaka, in late August and later it spread to 12 districts of the country. Anthrax is a highly contagious disease, usually transmitted on people through contact with meat, blood or skin of an animal that has been infected. 