Covid-19 Cases Surge In Bangladesh; Defying Lockdown, Lakhs Of Muslims Attend Funeral Of An Islamic Cleric

Bangladesh on Monday (Apr 20) reported fresh cases of COVID-19 cases – the biggest daily jump in confirmed infections – as government officials urged people to stay indoors after tens of thousands defied a stay-at-home order to attend the funeral of the cleric and senior leader of the Islamist party in the district of Brahmanbaria, Benar News reported.

The massive congregation for the funeral sparked fears of fresh cases of coronavirus outbreak emerging from the event.

Benar News quoted Nasima Sultana, an additional director general of the directorate of health as saying during an online briefing “We are in a great crisis. Unless we strictly follow the lockdown guidelines, we cannot stop a surge of deaths in the future”

The total number of novel coronavirus in Bangladesh has surged past 3300 as the pandemic spread to various parts of the nation. The total death toll in the country has risen to 110 with at least ten more coronavirus deaths recorded during the previous 24 hours.

According to local health officials, 46 per cent of the infection cases were reported from the capital Dhaka followed by 20 per cent in the port town of Narayanganj on the outskirts of Dhaka.

To stop the spread of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, the government ordered a shutdown beginning on March 26 to continue through April 25, with officials declaring the period a “special holiday.”

Defying country's ban of no more than five people attending prayers at one time, more than 100,000 Muslims gathered at Jamia Rahmania Madrassa in Bertola village in the Brahmanbaria district, about 100 km (62 miles) from Dhaka, for the funeral of senior emir Maulana Jubayer Ahmed Ansari.

Maulana Ansari is revered as an influential Islamic scholar with at least 1 million followers on YouTube.

The local police were unable to control the crowd gathered at the funeral. As a result, the officer in charge and assistant superintendent withdrew from the event. A committee has been formed to start an investigation into how such a large crowd was allowed to congregate

The police have locked down eight nearby villages from where the mourners mainly came. The villagers will be in quarantine for at least 14 days.

“We have repeatedly been urging the people to understand the gravity of the infection and stay at home. The shutdown is for containing fresh infections and preventing death. But people are not abiding by the government order to stay home,” BenarNews quoted Health Minister Zahid Maleque as saying

“If people do not stay home, the numbers of infections and deaths are likely to shoot up,” he added.