Bangladesh lifts COVID lockdown for Eid, experts warn of surge

Millions of Bangladeshis shop and travel this week during a controversial eight-day pause in country’s strict lockdown.

Waiting among hundreds of fellow travellers to catch a ferry out of Bangladesh’s capital, unemployed construction worker Mohammed Nijam knew he was risking catching the coronavirus but he felt it was even riskier to stay in Dhaka with another lockdown looming. “I have to pay rent every month even though I have no work,” he said, adding that his landlord had been bothering him for money even as he was struggling just to feed himself. “I would rather go to my village home and lead life as God lets me.”