Dhaka: Waiting among hundreds of tourists to arrest the ferry from the capital of Bangladesh, unemployed construction workers Mohammed Nijam knew he was at risk of catching Coronavirus, but he felt it was even risky to live in Dhaka with another lockdown.
“I have to pay rent every month even though I don’t have a job,” he said, adding that the landlord had bothered him for money even when he struggled to feed himself.
“I prefer to go to my village house and live a life like God let me.” Nijam is among the tens of millions of Bangladesh shopping and traveling this week during a controversial eight-day pause in the tight locking of Coronavirus in the country that the government allows for the Eid al-Adha Islamic Festival.
The suspension has been calculated by health experts who warn it can worsen the ongoing surge driven by a very contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in neighboring India.
“There is no scarcity of beds, Icus, while our health care provider runs out,” said Be-Nazir Ahmed, a public health expert and former head of the Government Health Directorate.
“So, if the situation worsens and more patients come to the hospital, it will be almost impossible to deal with the crisis.” With the spread of rampant viruses, most of everything in Bangladesh is closed on July 1, from the market to mass transportation.
Army and border guards patrolled the streets and thousands were arrested and sent to prison for violating the kuncian.
But even with new limitations, the death of the virus still floated around 200 every day and daily infection is still around 11,000, both of them are considered less touched.
On Sunday, 225 deaths and 11,758 infections were reported.
Apart from the warning from experts – and with more than 4 million of 160 million this country is fully vaccinated – the government announces that from July 15-23, all restrictions will be revoked and everything will be reopened so that people can celebrate the festival, which is usually a grace for economy.
“But, in all situations, people must remain vigilant, use face masks and strictly follow health instructions,” said Government Policy Statement.
Government officials have not responded to criticism of this step.
An official with the Ministry of Public Administration, which issued orders pausing Kuncian, referring to the Associated Press for policy statements when requested comment.
Calls and emails to spokesman with the Ministry of Health are not returned.
A junior minister from the Ministry of Public Administration, Farhad Hossain, told local media on Saturday that his unique described because many businesses spin around the festival.
The results in the capital have become a crowd of jamming people to malls and markets to shopping on their holidays and others scare the bus and bus stations when they try to make their way to their country’s village’s hometown.
During the last major Islamic festival in May, an estimated 10 million of the 20 million dhaka residents went to celebrate their families.
Similar numbers can travel this week, especially because many like Nijam, construction workers, might want to wait for the next kuncian in their village.
Among the large crowds of people shopping at Pasar Baru Dhaka, is Shah Alam, Dental Technicians.
“When the government has relaxed the situation for several days, we come to the market to buy the necessary items,” said nature.
“We try to follow health safety guidelines.” Ahmed, a health professional, said he saw the main risk of suspending locking when people from the city spread the virus to their village and people spread the virus when they packed to the market to shop, especially millions of people would buy sacrificed animals for Eid al-Adha.
“Maybe hundreds of thousands of livestock markets will be arranged throughout the country ranging from remote villages to the city, and livestock sellers and others engaged in this business mainly come from rural areas, and maybe they will bring viruses with them,” he said.
According to his estimates, 30 million to 40 million people will gather for prayers in the mosque or open fields throughout the country for the festival on Wednesday.
“The Congregation of Eid al-Fitr will be an event that spreads,” he said.
He said the month after the festival would be a critical time for a country that had calculated nearly 1.1 million infections and almost 18,000 deaths from pandemics.
“We may not really avoid disaster situations,” he said.
(AP)