Homegoers at Eid fever raising covid fear

• Covid transmission surge may turn worse after Eid

• Thousands of homegoers throng at exit points

• People rushing out of capital, may radically spread virus

• Malls, super shops, vendors see huge crowd

• Holidaymakers crowd also seen in ghats

What health experts had feared following mad rush of Eid holidaymakers during two Eid vacations last year came into happen in the end. The crowd of homebound people could not be handled and lakhs of people made travels several times ignoring the government’s lockdown. This time is a no exception. 

The government’s plan to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus by enforcing lockdown, shutting down long-distance transport buses, launches and trains and preventing people from going to the villages has practically become failed efforts. Thousands of homebound people are leaving Dhaka city, boarding whatever vehicles they found on the streets. Besides, with the approach of Eid, huge crowds are seen in shopping malls also.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) spokesman Nazmul Islam on Sunday warmed that the alarming coronavirus transmission surge in the country can get worse after Eid-ul-Fitr.

He said, although the new variant has been detected in the country, medical services and management strategies remain the same. “The Indian variant was found today, tomorrow another new variant will emerge if we fail to break the chain of rising new variants,” he warned.

“The number of patients will not go down as medical services including equipment and manpower are not unlimited in the country. The infection rate remained below 10 per cent for the past few days which has shown a ray of hope but there is no scope for being satisfied,” he stated.

Centering the Eid vacation, people are rushing to leave the capital for their ancestral homes all across the country, which can radically spread the virus.

The current Covid-19 situation can turn grim after Eid if the lockdown is relaxed, he suspected.

It’s just five days till Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival in the country, and people are rushing out of the capital like every other year to celebrate the holidays with family.

On Sunday, thousands of homebound people thronged at the exit points of Dhaka and other peripheral areas waiting for vehicles to go to their village homes. Most of them were not maintaining health guidelines. Some were not wearing masks properly. Some did not bother to wear masks.

Not only in bus stands, With four days to Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival for Muslims, shopping malls, super markets and vendors on pavements in Dhaka on Sunday witnessed a severe crowd of shoppers amid the detection of a double-mutant Indian variant of coronavirus in Bangladesh.

The health guidelines issued by the government remained mostly ignored in the crowded shopping districts of the capital. 

At Bashundhara City shopping complex, New Market, Mukto Bangla Shopping Complex and Mirpur New Super Market, a large number of shoppers were seen ignoring the health guidelines amid the lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of the second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The showroom of Easy Fashion at Mirpur New Super Market at Mirpur 1 was full of customers and the shop staff and buyers were paying no heed to the health guidelines. The shop manager Imran refused to make any comment in this regard.

 “Presence of customers is increasing than recent past but our sales are not up to the mark compared with the previous year’s Eid sales. We are hopeful for better business in the next few days before Eid,” said Maruf Hasan, operation manager at clothing brand Infinity.

“We strictly follow the health guidelines in our showroom from the first day of resumption of business after a strict lockdown. When customers visit our showroom without masks, we provide them with free mask on our own,” he added.

“Markets should remain open till midnight every day before Eid. If the government extends the time, more customers would be able to visit our showrooms after Iftar,” said Sheikh Mainul Hasan Hemel, manager of the clothing shop Milan at Mirpur.

“We have 14 showrooms across the country including Dhaka. Currently, 13 staff are working here. We all are trying to follow the health safety amid the pandemic,” he added.

Drivers carrying passengers to Chittagong or northern districts took alternate routes to dodge fines or punishment by police. 

The routes are shortcuts to the destinations, drivers said. 

“There is a huge pressure of passengers and we are making as many trips as possible,” said Shahid, a microbus driver.

“I have taken passengers to Chittagong and back again in a day. Each time, I had 12-14 passengers,” said another microbus driver Md Sojol.

Passengers have to count two-three times then usual fare. A person has to pay Tk 1,500 to go to Chittagong from Dhaka now while the usual fare of non-AC bus is Tk 500 per seat and of AC bus Tk 1,000-1,200. 

Another driver Bahar Mia said passengers going to Comilla were charged Tk500 each whereas the usual bus fare was Tk120-Tk250. 

Desperate to spend Eid holidays with relatives, passengers did not bargain with the drivers.

“This is a moment of crisiswith no other mode of transportto leave Dhaka. Considering that, the fare does not seem high to me,” said Ashiq Khan, garment scrap businessman, who was headingto Feni in a microbus.

“We know the driver has to manage several agencies amid the travel ban. They have to take increased fare to meet the additional cost,” said Monir Hossen, a passenger of Comilla. 

People are gradually deserting the concrete city in whatever way possible, but neither do they follow health safety guidelines, nor maintain social distancing. 

Ignoring the risk of coronavirus infection, Eid holidaymakers crowded at Shimulia ghat in Munshiganj. Passengers have been paying extra fares to vessels in the vicinity of the terminal to cross the river as ferry services were suspended.

Due to the closure of public transport, most of the passengers are travelling to the terminal on foot. Many of them force their way on the emergency ferry services while others are risking their life to cross the river.

Shimulia traffic police Inspector Md Hilal Uddin said almost no emergency service vehicles were waiting in the wharf on Sunday, but more than 300 trucks were in line. The situation was not as bad as it was on Saturday.

However, disregarding the suspension order, six ferries were seen carrying hundreds of passengers on the Shimulia-Banglabazar route, flouting Covid safety guidelines.

A huge rush of vehicles and commuters was witnessed on the Daulatdia-Paturia route over the past few days, especially on Friday, as people were heading home, taking advantage of the two-day weekend.

Considering the overall situation, two platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were deployed in the vicinity of Shimulia ghat and near the toll plaza of Padma Bridge from Sunday morning to prevent the gathering of passengers.

Earlier, the government enforced the lockdown from April 6, which was later extended in several phases in the face of a surge in Covid-19 infections in the country.

Lastly, the lockdown was extended until 16 May as the second of the pandemic wave hit the country.

But the movement of all kinds of long-haul public transport is to remain suspended ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. Launch and train services will also remain suspended at this time.

But, the government allowed resumption of public transport inside cities and intra-districts from 6 May.