All sort of gathering, including saying prayer in the mosque during this COVID-19 outbreak has been prohibited to ensure public safety, but some religious people are still going to the mosques and saying prayers fearlessly.
by Nayema Nusrat (new york)
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Apr 02 (IPS) - The Coronavirus pandemic is changing how we live our daily lives. The scale of the Covid-19 and its impact on our lives is unprecedented. When humanity gets past this, the world will be a very different place than the one we have known.
The changes will likely impact how we interact with each other and with family, how we work, study, eat, pray, love or play.
The Covid19 crisis has upended our lives. This novel virus is already reorienting our relationships with the outside world, our loved ones, dependence on each other, on technology, government and healthcare. What changes we might see in the future is uncertain.
Global cooperation may be at stake although what we are hearing today is that we must all be together in this fight for survival against the virus. In the near future, we cannot rule out a scenario of fierce competition over resources, medicines and food.
Italy's Ezio Mauro recently wrote in La Repubblica:
"... As we know, democracy is also a system of mutual guarantees which we take for granted because they are part of our civilization - which is now threatened by the virus. Now we must relinquish parts of our freedom in the name of responsibility. ... And even if politicians are not yet saying it openly, this is the real confirmation of the emergency."
Mohammad Rakibul Hasan, an award winning photojournalist from Bangladesh shares with us a set of images on the lockdown across the country.
Workers in the garment industry, rickshaw pullers and hourly contract laborers in Bangladesh are hit with loss of income like no other in the face of Covid-19 crisis.
In the garments sector alone, Bangladesh has lost around $1.5 billion in canceled orders by foreign brands, which has impacted some 1.2 million workers. Ever since the increase of COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States, Bangladeshi factories are losing around $100 million per day.
All sort of gathering, including saying prayer in the mosque during this COVID-19 outbreak has been prohibited to ensure public safety, but some religious people are still going to the mosques and saying prayers fearlessly. Shops are closed, human presence on the street is seldom visible unless they have an emergency. Homeless has nowhere to go, no government initiative has been taken to ensure their safety in Dhaka, Bangladesh. COVID-19 outbreak red alert has been taken seriously by public in Bangladesh. No one is out for anything except those who do not have home to go. Roads and highways are empty, no sign of life on the street. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh never sleeps, approximately 30 million people live in this mega city. As the consequence of COVID-19 spread, the government has locked down everything, no one is out or on the street unless they have an emergency to go physically somewhere. A transwoman calls to her ex-boyfriend at the time of long isolation and lockdown in Dhaka, Bangladesh due to the outbreak of COVID-19. A transgender couple kisses during the COVID-19 outbreak in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The third gender population is socially excluded, locally they are called "Hijra", who typically encounter socio-cultural deprivation from the mainstream society. As they are not entitled to any fixed income, the coronavirus epidemic has locked down them in their home and put them in a financial hazard as most of the people from their community have been facing shortage of food and daily needs. Mehrunnessa lives in an ‘old age home' in Dhaka, Bangladesh who is already in a form of isolation but the COVID-19 outbreak has made her more detached from her relatives who used to visit her frequently. She asserted that the whole world is now suffering, and God is kind enough to eliminate the evil disease soon. COVID-19 outbreak has locked down one third of the population across the globe. Bangladesh is densely populated country that has increased high risk for contamination of deadly virus as many homeless sleeps on the street in Dhaka who are less aware of corona viral disease. Kamalapur Railway Station is the central station in Bangladesh which has been shut down to prevent the virus spread among the community nationwide. Dhaka City Corporation has initiated to spry disinfectant in public places to reduce the risk of outbreak of COVID-19, the deadliest virus. During the lockdown of Bangladesh due to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak, many street people have no choice to live on open air. The virus is airborne according to World Health Organization that can become active for three hours, and even can alive on different type of surfaces for 24 hours. People are going to their destination to get them locked down due to emergency dealation of Bangladesh government to prevent viral contamination. After locking down all the government and private organizations, shops, factories and all most everything, people who work in Dhaka are rushing towards theirs home towns by public transports even without taking proper safety measure which may lead the CORONA-19 outbreak faster and can be spread nationwide. The day before the shutting down all inter-city buses, many people are moving to their home towns as the Dhaka city is locked down and there is an uncertainty of extension of longer days of lockdown as there is no sign of exact treatment for COVID-19 positive patients nor any vaccine has been invented yet. City railways stations are always crowded with thousands of people every moment but the virus outbreak news declared by the government has been taken seriously by citizens of Bangladesh. Everything is locked down and no presence of human on the stations has made locality a drastic shift of emptiness.