Reluctant people flout directives as cases, deaths soar

Dhaka’s residents appeared reluctant to follow government-imposed health rules on Thursday even as the country recorded its highest daily virus cases since Sept 2 last year.

 Wearing masks in public, among others, was made mandatory in the directives aimed at curbing a spurt in coronavirus infections but people were seen without face coverings. While many covered their chins with masks, some pulled them out of their pockets when confronted.

 Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Executive Magistrate Sanjeev Das conducted a mobile court at Shahbagh and fined people Tk 100 to Tk 200 for flouting health rules. He said some had been fined for not wearing masks and added that their primary objective was to warn everyone. Bangladesh reported 3,359 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths on Thursday. The daily death figure was highest in nearly three months.

 Passenger vehicles, including those of state-owned BRTC, carried people at full capacity in clear violation of the 11-point restriction issued on Jan 10. The transport owners claimed to have obtained verbal permission from the transport ministry but there was no official word from the government at the time of the report’s filing.

 Most of the drivers and their assistants said they were yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. 

 DMP Deputy Commissioner Md Faruque Hossain said the mobile court at Shahbagh filed 25 cases against public transports and fined Tk 2,550 for violating virus restrictions.

 Meanwhile, passenger trains will run at half capacity from Saturday. Half of the tickets will be sold online. Abul Kalam Khan, vice-president of the Bangladesh Launch Owners Association, said they would keep operating as usual since the government did not sit with them before imposing the restrictions.

 Health rules were neglected at the kitchen markets. Abul Kashem, a shopkeeper from Shantinagar, said congested space made it difficult to maintain health guidelines.

 Although the government has made it mandatory to show corona vaccine certificates at hotels and restaurants in the capital, hardly anyone abided by the directive. 

 “Even if people showed us vaccine certificates, we have no way to verify their authenticity,” Mahbub, owner of Siraji Hotel on RK Mission Road, told The Business Post. 

Highest Covid deaths since Oct 17

On Thursday, the single-day infection rate rose to 12.03 per cent. The country also logged 12 deaths, the highest in three months, pushing the tally up to 28,123. 

The test positivity rate has been witnessing an upward trend since the start of the year, rising from 2.43 per cent on January 1. With the new infections, the total caseload reached 16,04,664, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Health authorities reported the latest figures after testing 27,920 samples at 853 laboratories across the country. Bangladesh has so far tested 1,17,78,221 samples. Meanwhile, the health authorities designated Dhaka and Rangamati as ‘red zones’, following an exponential rise in Covid infections. Besides, six districts, including Jashore, have been marked as ‘yellow zones’ or at “mid-level risk”.