The deaths from coronavirus infection have crossed the 200-mark in Bangladesh, just three weeks after the country witnessed the 100-mark in fatalities.
Bangladesh recorded its first fatality on March 18 and crossed its 100-mark on April 20.
The country has confirmed seven more deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the number of fatalities to 206.
Meanwhile, the confirmed coronavirus infection cases have topped the 13,000-mark as the country reported 709 new cases over the same period.
With the latest figures, the number of total confirmed cases jumped to 13,134, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Additional Director General (Adl DG-Administration) Prof Nasima Sultana revealed during the daily online bulletin on Covid-19 situation on Friday.
She said as many as 5,707 samples were collected in the past 24 hours while 5,941 were tested in 35 laboratories across the country.
The Adl DG said, among the seven new deceased, two were women. Six of the deceased were aged between 51 and 80, and one was above 90 years of age.
At the briefing, Nasima also revealed that 191 more Covid-19 patients have recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours.
As per the revised guidelines provided by the newly formed Clinical Management Committee of the health authorities, so far 2,101 people recuperated from the virus.
More people, transport
The presence of people and private vehicles remain higher in Dhaka and elsewhere after the government on May 4 declared opening up economic activities, including opening up of shopping malls and stores across Bangladesh from May 10, on condition of maintaining safety guidelines.
On Monday, around 688 fresh cases were recorded in Bangladesh, which jumped to over 700 on a daily basis in the following days.
Although the government had decided to allow shops to open from Sunday, many local stores continue to open ahead of that date, including tea stalls, since the day the directive was announced.
Also, people across Bangladesh flocked to mosques to attend Jummah prayer after four weeks, as the ban on mosques was lifted with certain conditions.
Shops start selling wares
During a visit to different areas in Dhaka on Thursday, including Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Shantinagar, Malibag, Rampura, Banasree, Karwan Bazar, Mirpur, and some other areas of the capital, Dhaka Tribune correspondents found most shopkeepers kept their shops open without maintaining the guidelines.
All kinds of shops were open in the city's Shewrapara, Mirpur including sanitary, jewellers, tailors, and photocopy shops.
Abu Taher, a proprietor of Shorna Jewellers’ at East Shewrapara, said he had to open the shop to save his family from dying of starvation.
Md Kamruzzaman, the owner of Nobojug Tailors, said he opened the shop as there was no food in his house and he also has to complete some pre-ordered deliveries.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh | |
Total deaths | 206 |
Total cases | 13,134 |
Total recoveries | 2,101 |
New deaths | 7 |
New cases | 709 |
New recoveries | 191 |
New tests | 5,941 |
Most grocers, who sold their wares, were found not maintaining health guidelines.
Shopkeepers said if they don't open shops and sell products, their families will suffer as the families are dependent on their day to day income. If stores remain closed, they will suffer a food crisis.
In Shantinagar and Malibagh area, all stores including electronics and electricals, hardware, recharging, and bedding shops were found open. Customers were not maintaining any social distancing measures.
Half measures
One of our correspondents witnessed that most shopkeepers kept their doors half-closed, and were dealing with customers who stood outside the shops.
When police patrolled the area, the shopkeepers closed their shutters and remained inside or around the shops and waited until they left.
Seeking anonymity, a hardware shop owner said that they are facing serious financial problems. He said they need to open the shops to help their families survive amid the lockdown.
The shopkeeper also said that he was the only earning member of his family of five, and there were a lot of shopkeepers in the market like him.
Shops were also open in different parts of Mohammadpur, an area which recorded one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases.
Several owners and employees of the shops were wearing face masks. They told Dhaka Tribune that they opened the shops taking protective measures and were not allowing any customers to come in close physical contact.
Relief for rickshaw pullers
However, rickshaw pullers found some relief as they had more customers yesterday than other days during the lockdown in Mohammadpur area.
Safatullah, a rickshaw puller living at Nobodoy Housing, on Thursday said as many more people were coming out, he earned four times more than the day before.
He said: “For the first time since the crisis, I am going to buy something for my family. We will eat well today.”
Covered under a veil due to the month of Ramadan, many tea stalls, that gather crowd, were open in Modhubag area.
A tea stall owner of Modhubag told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday that most rickshaw pullers of the area are not able to live a healthy life.
“They used to sleep in congested tiny rooms at night. During the lockdown, most of them were sitting at home and they requested me to open the tea stall so that they could pass some time chatting and having cups of tea,” he said.
‘Taking action’
Bangladesh has been observing a countrywide shutdown since March 26, which has been extended five times till May 16.
When asked, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune that as per the rules, daily necessities, grocery shops, kitchen markets and medicine stores are allowed to keep open.
However, we are taking action if other shops are open by violating the rules and without following the health guidelines and maintaining social distance.
Authorities at both city corporations of Dhaka said they have started mobile courts as many shops have already opened, violating the health guidelines.
Our correspondents Shohel Mamun, Ali Asif Shawon, Arifur Rahman Rabbi, Kamrul Hasan, Mehedi Al Amin, Mamun Abdullah, Fahim Reza Shovon, and Sanaul Islam Tipu contributed in this report