Outrush of Dhaka leavers is worrisome

The news of large numbers of people leaving Dhaka ahead of next week's Eid-ul-Fitr festival, flouting all social distancing regulations, is everything we dreaded might happen in the midst of a poorly-managed pandemic. A report by this daily on Tuesday shows how people were crowding into exit points and causing long tailbacks. The Dhaka-Chattogram highway on Monday witnessed a 25-km tailback in Daudkandi, caused mainly by thousands of cars leaving the capital. Elsewhere on the Shimulia-Kathalbari and Paturia-Daulatdia routes, there were so many people that ferry authorities had to suspend their services for hours. In the absence of public transport because of the ongoing shutdown, many people travelled by pickups, motorcycles and battery-run three wheelers. These images of reckless travel are disturbing, to say the least, and add to the burgeoning list of failures of the administration to contain the situation.

Such unchecked movement, which will no doubt further spread the deadly coronavirus and consequently delay the reopening process, has made a passenger welfare association call for a 10-day curfew around Eid to slow the spread of the outbreak. We think this suggestion merits consideration. The government has so far largely failed to restrict people's movement even though, in a circular on May 14, it stressed that no one would be allowed to leave the city where they work during the Eid festival. The local administration and law enforcers were supposed to enforce the restrictions during the period. Initiatives by the police—setting up check posts across the country to prevent people from travelling from one district to another—were also expected to bear some fruit. But as reports show, lax enforcement of the directive has rendered all efforts meaningless. One may recall that similar curbs on people's movement, implemented in the beginning of the lockdown period and at different stages subsequently, were also met with frustrating results.

Thus, the time has come for tougher measures—whether in the form of a curfew or other means. The priority is to check people's movement any way possible during this Eid, and the government must do everything in its power to ensure that. With the numbers of infections and deaths from the virus growing every day, the price of a failure to act decisively will be expensive.