Government fails to enforce health safety steps

Law enforcement agencies have largely failed to ensure the social distancing and health guideline compliance for businesses operating amid the ongoing shutdown thereby exposing more people to COVID-19 infection.

Private vehicles are increasingly plying city roads as crowds are seen everywhere in the city day and night in absence of any visible move to enforce the safety measures.

The ban on public movement from 8:00pm to 6:00am is hardly maintained.

‘The police alone cannot enforce social distancing unless people are aware,’ home affairs minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Sunday, adding that many law enforcers were already infected as they were also exposed to the risks in the field.

He told New Age that the law enforcement agencies were trying their best to enforce the safety measures.

‘COVID-19 is claiming lives every day. More people are being infected. Still people are coming out without taking into consideration the risks of infections,’ the home minister said.

City streets and some shopping centres were seen alarmingly overcrowded with COVID-19 infections spiking amid the relaxed shutdown in the capital as elsewhere. 

People are entering and exiting Dhaka city unchecked though there has been an instruction from the authorities to only allow those who have emergency purposes.  

There has been a surge in the exit of people from the capital in the last two days ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr though the government has declared that people must stay at their work stations and shall not leave the area during the general holiday extended till May 30.

In such a situation, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Sunday imposed a fresh restriction on the entry into and exit from the capital to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus though such restriction has already been in force.

Public health experts fear that due to the lax lockdown  enforcement and unchecked overcrowding, there might be further surges in COVID-19 infections as the detections reached 22,268 with the death toll being 328 till Sunday morning.

But customers were seen to swell at markets in the capital and elsewhere ignoring the health guideline while COVID-19 infections kept rising in the country.

Although most city markets were violating the mandatory health guidelines the authorities were found indifferent to taking action against shop owners and shoppers.

But many district authorities shut markets in the district towns again and fined businessmen as well as customers for violations.

Bangladesh Shop Owners Association president Helal Uddin said that the local administration in Rajshahi, Kushtia, Tangail, Manikganj and other districts again shut the markets but shops in Dhaka markets were running as usual.

More shops were reopening as crowds of customers were increasing ahead of Eid, the largest religious festival of the Muslims, leaders of shop owners said.

During the visits by New Age to markets on Elephant Road, Mirpur Road and at Shahjadpur, Kuril and Panthapath a huge rush of customers were seen in those shopping centres where health guidelines were seen to be grossly violated, especially at the roadside shops.

On Mirpur road, innumerable customers were noticed on a buying spree at vendors’ shops although the government has banned street hawkers.

 On May 10, markets across the country reopened after the government gave permission on conditions that the owners would ensure the compliance with the health guidelines that include providing hand washing facilities, ensuring social distancing and wearing masks by both sellers and shoppers.

Earlier on May 7, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police issued a set of directives for shoppers and businesses, which hardly have been maintained.

In the meantime, the authorities have also reopened mosques to all prayer-goers and readymade garments factories on a limited scale.

But the health safety directives are being grossly breached, said health experts.

Professor Mohammad Shahidullah, head of the national technical committee to tackle the spread of Covid-19, told New Age that they had offered some observations regarding reopening of markets and mosques despite rising COVID-19 infections and deaths.

The government, however, relaxed the shutdown and there has been gross lax in the enforcement of the health directives with continued breaching in most of the areas, he said.

Most of the checkpoints on the main roads and at the city entry points had thin police presence on the last few days as private cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, vans and other vehicles roamed and plied unchecked.

During the past couple of days, there has been a huge rush of Dhaka-leaving people on the Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdia ferry routes.

Gabtali, one of the capital’s main entry and exit points, has recently been witnessing surges in both inbound and outbound passengers.

The police were hardly checking vehicles and quizzing people for their movement. Many were also seen leaving Dhaka for their homes before eid vacation.

Joshim Uddin Mollah, deputy commissioner of DMP traffic west division, however, said that they were enforcing checks at the Gabtali entry and exit points.

DMP deputy commissioner Masudur Rahman told New Age that there were many people who were not cautious enough in maintaining social distancing and health directives.

He, however, said that fresh measures were taken to make sure that people could not go out of Dhaka or enter it without emergency. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net