Officially, the country is in a week-long lockdown but that seems to be existing in the official order. People in Bangladesh are openly defying the restrictions, despite a dramatic surge in Covid-19 restrictions, according to a report in the Daily Star. 

Last week, amid soaring cases, the Bangladesh government announced a week-long lockdown, with certain exemptions to industries and factories. However, local media reports say that people are still coming out on the streets, and are going to their respective workplaces using alternate transport such as tricycles. 

The country’s Health Minister Zahid Maleque also expressed concern over the non-compliance of health guidelines by people. 

“While treating Covid-19 patients, the treatment of patients with cancer, kidney, stroke, and other serious diseases is being hampered,” he was quoted as saying by Dhaka Tribune. “The infection rate of Covid-19 had decreased, but people did not follow health regulations and became very careless after getting vaccine shots” he added. 

Last week, the country recorded over 5000 cases daily. Many hospitals in the capital, Dhaka, and other major cities were operating on the edge. 

Abul Basar, the director-General of the Department of Health, said, “We should not forget that more people are dying of cancer, tuberculosis, and other diseases than those dying of Covid-19.” “We have to continue those treatments along with Covid-19 treatment too,” he added. 

On Wednesday, Bangladesh recorded over 7600 cases, the highest so far. A recent genome testing found that the South African variant of the coronavirus was most prevalent in the country in mid-March. 

And some reports suggested some vaccines, including Covishield that Bangladesh has been using widely, are relatively less effective against the South African variant. Still, people seem careless when it comes to following health measures. 

It is not just the health sector that is being affected by the pandemic, said the country’s health minister, “all sectors including economy, food, education, and security have been affected.”