Swinging between lockdowns

When the cabinet division decided late on Saturday evening that the nationwide "total and complete" lockdown would be postponed from June 28 to July 1, and there would be a limited-scale or partial countrywide lockdown in the interim period, it left many asking what a "limited-scale" lockdown even meant.

As the country enforces a partial lockdown from today, the cabinet division yesterday issued a circular outlining how the nation would operate over the next three days leading up to the actual lockdown on July 1.

The new decision comes amid travel restrictions across the country from June 16 to July 15.

The government has yet to issue a directive regarding the "total and complete lockdown" even though the Press Information Department earlier said the cabinet division would issue a gazette regarding the lockdown on Saturday.

As per yesterday's gazette on the three-day partial lockdown, all forms of transport, except rickshaws, will be banned. The government and private offices may remain open with only the essential staff.

"The law enforcement agencies will patrol the streets to ensure this," said the circular.

It added that organisations must provide transport for employees deemed essential.

Shopping malls, resorts and tourist destinations, community centres and places of entertainment will be closed during this period.

Restaurants will only be allowed to cater to takeaway orders.

The government will take steps to raise awareness about masks and take legal action if need be.

Vehicles carrying goods will be allowed on the streets, the circular said.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque told reporters at the Secretariat yesterday that the government is set to enforce a nationwide partial lockdown from Monday and it will turn into a complete one from Thursday.

During the complete lockdown, there will be police, BGB and army members on the streets, he said.

Both the partial lockdown and the "complete lockdown" were decisions that came in the day and took the country by surprise.

Late on Friday evening, the PID issued a press statement declaring that the country would go into a lockdown until further notice from Monday.

This was the first time the government used the word "lockdown" indicating the strict nature of restrictions about to be put in place.

Soon afterwards, the PID issued another statement saying instead of going into lockdown until further notice, the country would be put under a weeklong lockdown.

The very next day, the government postponed the lockdown, and instated a three-day partial lockdown, after a high-level meeting chaired by Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

The cabinet secretary, principal secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, governor of Bangladesh Bank, representatives of business associations like BGMEA, BKMEA, and other trade bodies were present at the meeting.

But even before the decision of a countrywide lockdown was made, on June 21, the government imposed movement restrictions on seven districts surrounding Dhaka, cutting off the capital city from the rest of the country.

This was supposedly done to keep people from travelling to Dhaka, so as to avoid putting the capital city under lockdown, cabinet division sources told The Daily Star.

But three days in, the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 recommended "a complete shutdown" for 14 days. The lockdown was announced a day later.

As the government flip-flopped over the decisions, the general public made a mad dash to exit the city, fearing a period of unemployment. Even though the districts surrounding Dhaka were blocked off to stop people from exiting, the curbs put in place fell flat as throngs of people left the capital anyway.

Others rushed to markets and shopping malls to stock up on essentials, ignoring guidelines on not forming crowds.