With the government’s decision to open up shops from Sunday, it is concerning whether such a move will lead to the virus spreading even more, and essentially nullify all of the efforts that had gone into ensuring lockdown for the last few weeks.
The World Health Organization has already warned against easing lockdowns too hastily, as this would inevitably risk a rapid rise in the number of cases that we have seen so far.
Bangladesh has already had more than 13,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 200 deaths -- numbers which keep rising on a daily basis -- and a rush to open up the economy will be disastrous for the nation the long run.
While one understands the reasoning behind it -- there are millions in the country who suddenly find themselves out of work and without an income -- one must realize that if the health of the nation is not prioritized, a temporarily healthy economy will do little to alleviate the problem.
Already, people have been opening up shops against government orders and that too without following social distancing and other suggested guidelines. As such, what guarantee is there that when shops do officially open on Sunday there will be strict rules being imposed?
The government has already released various stimulus packages so that such desperate actions could be avoided, but corruption has ensured that the money is not going where it should.
As such, before we open up our shops, we need to exercise extreme caution, and have proper social distancing rules in place. Right now, there is still a big risk of another wave of Covid-19 deaths, and so, the stakes are simply too high for error.