UNB, Dhaka :
Streets in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka have apparently taken a deserted look as the country started a 7-day lockdown on Monday, aiming to contain the second wave of Covid-19.
A small number of private cars, some rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were seen plying the streets in the morning.
As government, autonomous and private offices were allowed to operate with ‘limited manpower’, many were seen hiring rickshaws and auto-rickshaws to reach their offices.
Rehana Begum, an employee of a private office in Motijheel area and a resident of Rampura area, said, “I had to hire an auto-rickshaw at a much higher fare to reach my office today and it will be difficult for me to spend such amount of fare every day.”
However, shops and shopping malls have been kept closed as per the government instruction to enforce the lockdown.
Kitchen markets were seen open in different areas but the number of buyers was relatively thin.
Expressing his worry over the lockdown Haris Mia, a day- labourer, said, “The bleak days of the previous year have returned again in our life, there’s no one to think about us. Hunger will grip us if the lockdown continues.”
The main objective of the lockdown is to control unnecessary public movements and gatherings with stronger monitoring by the members of law enforcement agencies and thus contain the virus transmission.
It is the first official lockdown in Bangladesh to tackle the deadly coronavirus. On March 26 last year, the government had declared general holidays along with a transport shutdown instead of enforcing lockdown as the country was witnessing the surge in coronavirus transmission.
As the country has been experiencing record-breaking Covid cases for the past few days, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Sunday announced to impose a weeklong countrywide lockdown.
Most offices and factories will remain open during the period, but the employees will work in shifts maintaining health safety rules and government guidelines.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued an 18-point directive on March 29 to prevent the transmission of the virus.
