Covid-19 daily casualties hit new high of 96
Although the daily rate of Covid-19 infections seems to have gone down slightly, from being 7,201 on April 12 to 5,185 on April 14, the situation does not seem very promising yet, as the latter date still saw 96 deaths caused by the virus, the highest in a single day in the country. Of the 96 deceased, 59 were men and 37 women. The majority of the dead were elderly people over the age of 60 years. It is true that the "strict lockdown" only began on Wednesday. Earlier, another "lockdown" which later became a "seven-day restriction on movement" went on from April 5-12. So, is this truly the best we could have achieved in terms of curbing the virus' spread during these days of restrictions?
Even during the ongoing lockdown, it is disheartening to see that many sectors are operating in a business-as-usual manner. For instance, just yesterday, a photojournalist of this daily spotted hundreds of garment factory workers making their way to work during the early hours in Savar. Most were on foot or in human haulers (paying up to three times the regular fare due to the scarcity of transport), and there were only a few buses arranged by garment factories for their employees' commute. Where is the so-called "strict" lockdown in this case? Why do so many people still have to continue going to work? While we highly appreciate the overall fairly strict imposition of the current lockdown within the capital (with frequent police checkposts on the roads and fines imposed on people not carrying movement passes), we also believe that it will be of no use in combating the virus' spread if other areas of the country are exempted from the same rules.
The country saw a major dip in the rate of infections and deaths in the beginning of this year, and we believe that will be achievable once more if only the authorities do not become lax in carrying out their duties. As such, we would urge the government and all relevant authorities to maintain the strictness of the lockdown impartially and uniformly across the country, so that we may stop hearing of new record highs in daily Covid-19 infection rates and deaths. The government must also stop the rushing of people during and after the lockdown to the villages which have so far been much less affected than the cities. Otherwise, infections will spread all over the country which can only spell disaster.
Comments