lockdown
People give a fig to govt’s lockdown rules in Dhaka
Even though the Covid-19 crisis is deepening, traffic on the streets of capital Dhaka is increasing with every passing day amid the lockdown enforced to contain the highly transmittable Delta variant of the virus.
The number of vehicles and people increased substantially on Dhaka streets on Thursday, the seventh day of the 14-day strict lockdown.
Read: Lockdown Breaches: 562 arrested as movement of vehicles, people increase on 6th day
Many people were seen coming out and wandering without any valid reason while health protocols are hardly maintained in most cases.
Lockdown Breaches: 562 arrested as movement of vehicles, people increase on 6th day
Police arrested 562 people for being out there on the streets violating restrictions even as the capital city saw an increased number of private cars and public movement on the 6th day of the 14-day lockdown on Wednesday.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for coming out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 1,61,130 as fines from 208 people.
During this time, the Traffic Division collected Tk 1,13,0000 as penalties from 489 vehicles for failing to comply with coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Despite the measures taken by the authorities, people continue to venture out with families and friends in the capital defying the lockdown rules even though the Covid outbreak has turned vicious in the country.
Read: People find 'easy excuses' to defy lockdown in Dhaka
There was nothing different on Wednesday as people were seen roaming without emergency reasons with private cars and rickshaws plying everywhere.
Dhaka wore almost a normal look with an increased number of vehicles and people on the streets. Only the movement of public transport remained suspended as per the government restrictions.
Youth Internet Governance Forum to kick off Friday
Two- day Bangladesh Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) will kick-off on Friday.
It will be held through virtual platform due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
The program will start at 3:00 pm and end at 6:00 pm every day, according to a press release.
Read: Two thirds of world's school-age children have no internet
Youth Internet Governance Forum (YIGF) Bangladesh is an initiative under the umbrella of the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF) in conjunction with the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). It is a multi-stakeholder, youth, and youth women-led platform to engage in Internet governance-related issues.
Prominent experts in the tech industry and from the Internet Governance community will address the participants in this program on Youth IGF Bangladesh Influencer Hunt & Youth Ambassador Activity 2021, Youth Internet Governance, Social Media Against Humanity, Internet Addiction of Children and Adolescents in the Context of COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Causes, Effects, Side Effects, and Way Forward, Youth Entrepreneur-Domain Name Registration Process and Security, Empowering youth: Big Data & IoT, Conundrum of Cyber Value-system and Malpractices, OTT (Over the Top) & Digital Content Monetization, Regional & Local Participation in Internet Governance (IG), Government Opportunity For Youth: Training & Grants, etc.
Read: Youthful crusade for a safe cyberspace
Stakeholders from the government, civil society, private, technical community, academia, youth, and media will participate in the Youth Internet Governance virtually (Zoom platform).
Mass arrests continue in capital, while more residents keep streaming back in
On the fourth day since the post-Eid resumption of lockdown, the capital witnessed another day of mass arrests of citizens by law enforcers on Monday. Meanwhile the overall scenario in the city got busier for the second consecutive day, as more residents returned to resume their normal lives, having gone away to spend the Eid ul Azha holiday with their families in most cases.
As for the pandemic, the country again witnessed a new peak in deaths due to COVID-19 - 247- as well as in the number of new cases, that broke through the 15,000 mark for the first time.
The number of people arrested in Dhaka today fell only slightly, some would say negligibly, from yesterday's 587.
READ: Farhad warns legal action if factories found open amid lockdown
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested 566 people and traffic police collected Tk 10,21,000 as fines from 443 vehicles for violating lockdown rules on Monday.
Meanwhile, 164 people across the city were fined Tk 1,26,200 by mobile courts for not following the restrictions and health guidelines.
To prevent unwanted movement of people in the city, RAB and Army personnel patrolling the city were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people setting up strategic check-posts in different areas.
These check-posts could be seen as one travelled from Gabtoli down the Mirpur Road and on towards New Market. Or if one were to enter via Ashulia, from Uttara to the Airport and then on towards Mohakhali.
Traffic Inspector of Demra zone, Zia Uddin said, “Increased number of vehicles carrying expatriates and ambulances entered the capital through Demra bridge point today. Having seen patients, we permitted a good number of vehicles to enter the city.”
Many people on foot showed different excuses at the check-post but most of them were sent back by law enforcers and some were fined for not following health guidelines.
The number of rickshaws was notably less than the last three days of lockdown. Some of the rickshaw pullers said many have left the city as they couldn’t make sufficient income and it had become hard for them to survive in the capital during the strict lockdown.
As per the government instructions, only ambulances and those in emergency services were allowed for purposeful movement in the capital.
READ: UNO breaks up picnic organised in brazen breach of lockdown
Earlier last week, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB that this lockdown would be stricter than the one imposed last time. "Police, the paramilitary Bangladesh Border Guard and the Army will keep a strict vigil on the roads."
The second round of strict lockdown started on 8 am of July 23 that would continue till Aug. 5, with every possibility that it gets extended gain.
Farhad warns legal action if factories found open amid lockdown
Legal action will be taken if any industrial factory is found open amid the strict lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said on Monday.
He was speaking to journalists after the cabinet meeting on Monday.
Read:UNO breaks up picnic organised in brazen breach of lockdown
The state minister said all government-private offices should be closed except for the factories involved in the production and processing of food products, the preservation of rawhide and the pharmaceutical industry.
He said "I am monitoring the industrial mills whether they are open or not. And if we find any evidence, legal action will be taken against those who are running factories."
Moreover, Farhad said the government has so far no plan to open garment factories.
The state minister further said, "When people are roaming on the streets for the sake of work, we are actually trying to check the veracity of what they are saying."
Read: Lockdown returns; most streets in Dhaka fall silent
When asked about the implementation of strict lockdown, he said, "Since we have shut down the garment and export-oriented industries, the movement of workers has decreased. There are many other reasons why people are coming out unnecessarily and they have to face the law enforcers."
In addition, people are able to move freely for emergency services such as hospital service.
Asked if the prime minister had given any instructions in the cabinet meeting, the state minister said issues on the worsened Covid situation have been discussed.
Read:Lockdown Day 3: Banks reopen, 587 arrested, Tk 12.7 lakh fined
"We have issued the notification strictly," he said.
The current restrictions came into force on July 23 and will continue till Aug. 5 midnight, unless extended again.
Covid fatality rate 90% among elderly villagers, says health minister
mphasizing the importance of vaccination for Covid-19 in rural areas, Health and Family Planning Minister Zahid Maleque Monday said 70% of Covid patients in hospitals are older people from villages while the fatality rate among them is 90%.
The national vaccination campaign will now be accelerated at ward, union and upazila levels of the country as per directives of the prime minister, Maleque said while briefing reporters after attending the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
An initiative has been taken to vaccinate elderly people from the ward level as they are more reluctant about receiving it, the minister said, stressing the need for ensuring more Covid-19 tests of the samples coming from rural areas.
Read:Covid-19 Surge: Too many patients for a few hospital beds
He said, “Some 90% of hospital beds are occupied with patients and our health workers are now exhausted.”
Maleque said the government will appoint 4,000 more doctors and nurses soon to deal the with the situation and urged the authorities concerned to be stricter as the country may face terrible consequences if the lockdown is not maintained properly.
“This is unfortunate the way people are moving outside and travelling recklessly just on the fourth day of the lockdown, breaking the rules and risking their lives,” said Maleque.
He said the lockdown has to be made successful as there is no alternative to it to contain the Covid-19 spread.
Read: Bangladesh to get 21 crore vaccine doses early next year: Minister
Covid-19 Surge: Too many patients for a few hospital beds
Faced with a severe shortage of ICU and general beds the government hospitals in capital Dhaka are struggling to cope with a steady stream of Covid-19 patients, many of them coming from outside the city in critical condition.
The rush has filled the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) to the brim and forced the authorities to admit patients more than their capacity. And yet many have been kept in the waiting list for a bed, while others have simply been asked to hunt beds in other hospitals. That includes even the critical patients who need intensive care.
Read: Khulna division sees 46 Covid deaths amid deepening crisis
According to the Health Department, there are 16 government hospitals in the capital dedicated to Covid patients. Three of these hospitals don’t have any ICU. Seven of the remaining 13 hospitals had no ICU bed empty as of Saturday.
In the remaining six hospitals, only 40 ICU beds were available as of Saturday, said the authorities adding things are changing by hours.
Read Liquid Medical Oxygen and Covid-19 Treatment: Things we need to know
The pressure has mounted on the Dhaka hospitals as patients are arriving from other adjoining district hospitals for shortage of ICU facilities there. The few ICU beds are already full.
ICU beds are not easily available in the districts. An average of 25 patients need ICU in the hospitals designated for coronavirus in the capital.
UNO breaks up picnic organised in brazen breach of lockdown
In the midst of the strictest phase of COVID-19 restrictions imposed in the country since the start of the pandemic, one group of 50-60 people somehow found it appropriate to organise a picnic - and not even be discreet about it.
The strictness of the restrictions of course reflect the severity of the outbreak and how that has shifted. It shouldn't take an epidemiologist to tell us that Bangladesh is currently experiencing the worst phase of its entire outbreak.
The daily numbers coming out of DGHS, and out of them three in particular, are stark enough to not require expert interpretation of what they mean from a public health perspective.
The fact is that the number of deaths due to COVID-19 being reported on each day, the number of new cases, and the latest positivity rate (the percentage of tests returning positive for the virus), are all pointing in the wrong direction, and they've done so for quite a prolonged period now.
Yet as if oblivious to it all, this group of people hired out a trawler for the day, and blaring loud, incongruous picnic music on the vessel's PA system, set sail on Sunday morning down a famous canal in Chandpur.
Read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 200+ deaths, 11,291 new cases recorded
That they would be so brazen about it would prove their undoing however, as word started going around almost immediately of this blatant breach of the emergency restrictions.
By mid-day, Matlab Dakkhin UNO Fahmida Haque, assuming her executive magistrate powers leading a mobile court, was able to reach the spot on the Boaljuri canal that they were in.
There she broke up the picnic with other officials and made five of the organizers pay a penalty of Tk 11,500 against five cases of violating lockdown rules by organising a public gathering and playing loud music on speakers.
During the raid, the UNO seized the food catered for the picnic party and later distributed it among some local orphanages and madrasahs - fashioning a good ending to a story that could so easily have been sordid.
Lockdown Day 3: Banks reopen, 587 arrested, Tk 12.7 lakh fined
The third day of the ongoing strict lockdown saw increased number of people and vehicles on the streets of capital city on Sunday as police made more arrests and collected bigger sum of fines.
The increased movement may partly be due to the reopening of banks and return of Eid holidaymakers to the city, police said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested 587 people and traffic police collected Tk 12,72,000 as fines from 521 vehicles for violating lockdown rules on Sunday.
Meanwhile, 233 people across the city were fined Tk 1,00,950 by mobile courts for not following the restrictions and health guidelines.
Read: Day 2 of reinforced lockdown: 383 arrested in capital
RAB and Army personnel patrolling the streets of the city alongside local police, were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people setting up strategic check-posts in different areas.
Though check-posts were set up from Gabtoli-Mirpur Road-New Market to Uattara-Airport-Mohakhali, to prevent unwanted movement, people on the streets showed different excuses when caught by law enforcers, Traffic officer Asaduzzaman of Mohakhai said.
“Many people were still returning to the city after the Eid holidays.”
Though some were seen carrying luggage on foot, a good number of people were halted at the entry points of the city including Abdullahpur, Uttara, Tongi, Amin Bazar bridge and Babu Bazar bridge, he said.
Read: 403 arrests on day 1 prove lockdown back in earnest
However, as per the government instructions, only ambulances and those in emergency services were allowed to enter the capital.
On Thursday, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB that this lockdown would be stricter than the one imposed last time. "Police, the paramilitary Bangladesh Border Guard and the Army will keep a strict vigil on the roads."
The second round of strict lockdown started on 8 am of July 23 that would continue till Aug. 5 unless further extended.
Day 2 of reinforced lockdown: 383 arrested in capital
Police arrested 383 people and penalised 441 vehicles in capital Dhaka for violating restrictions on Saturday, the second day of the strict post-Eid nationwide lockdown reinforced to rein in the soaring Covid-19 infections.
The arrestees were out on the streets violating restrictions, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 95,230 in fines from 137 people for having no valid reason to roam around and not maintain health guidelines.
The Traffic Division collected Tk 10.83 lakh in penalties, from vehicles failing to comply with the curbs in place.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Death toll nears 200 again as 195 more die
Roads in the capital fell almost silent on Saturday, as law enforcers dissuaded inessential travel on the second day.
There were fewer private cars and commercial vehicles on the main roads as compared to first day Friday.
RAB and Army personnel patrolling the streets of Dhaka alongside police were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people at check-posts in different areas.
“Though some of the long-distance buses and vehicles were allowed to enter Dhaka through Uttara and Abdullahpur on Friday, we strictly followed a 'no tolerance' policy on Saturday," said traffic police officer Akhtar Hossain.
Also read: Silence descends on Dhaka
The few private cars, microbuses and other commercial vehicles that were caught plying on the roads without any valid reason were fined or compounded by police.
A police officer in the Amin Bazar area said, "Some people have been trying to enter the city showing medical documents but most of those were found to be old and invalid.
The lockdown restrictions came into force at 8am Friday and will continue till August 5 midnight, unless extended again as announced by the government on Thursday, upping its guard against the devastating Delta variant of Covid-19.
On Thursday, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB that this lockdown will be stricter than the one imposed last time. Police, paramilitary Bangladesh Border Guard and the Army will keep a strict vigil on the roads, he said.
Earlier, the government eased the lockdown restrictions in the country for eight days due to Eid-ul-Azha that was celebrated on Wednesday.