Vehicular movement in Dhaka increasing every day defying lockdown

People continue to venture out with families and friends in the capital defying the lockdown rules even though Bangladesh recorded the highest daily rise in its COVID-19 death toll on Tuesday.

There was nothing unique on day six (Wednesday) of the ongoing strict lockdown as people were seen in the capital moving without emergency reasons with private cars and rickshaws plying everywhere.

Dhaka wore almost a normal look with an increased number of vehicles and people on the streets. Only the movement of public transport remained suspended as per the government restrictions.

With the spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitals in cities and districts are getting overwhelmed with Covid patients but the lockdown restrictions are largely ignored.

Visiting different areas, the correspondent saw the increased movement of people in different areas of the city including Kakrail, Malibagh, Shegunbagicha, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Shahbagh, Kataban and Farmgate. 

Even people were seen gossiping on roads and moving from one place to another without wearing masks.

Traffic Inspector of Mohakhali area Asaduzzamn said the pressure of vehicles increased today compared to the last few days.

“In some areas, traffic control is needed due to a rise in the number of vehicles,” he said.

When police stop vehicles at check-posts, passengers show various causes for coming out of home, including banking work, hospitalisation of patients and vaccination, he said.

“We’re filing cases and realising fines from those who cannot show a valid reason for going outdoors but people are coming out despite all this,” he added.

Akhter Ahmed, a traffic sergeant of Uttara, said the number of vehicles is increasing every day.

As the country battles a brutal wave of the pandemic, Bangladesh logged 237 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours till Wednesday morning, taking the total death toll to 20,016.

The country has been seeing nearly 200 deaths every day for the past two weeks and breaking records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day. 

Besides, 16,230 more people test positive for COVID-19 after the test of 53,877 samples, according to a handout issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). 

With the new numbers of COVID-19 cases, the caseload mounted to 1,210,982.