Shawdesh desk:

Health guidelines, including wearing masks, are widely being ignored everywhere — from rural areas to urban ones — though the country’s coronavirus situation is yet to come under control fully.

Visitors to different tourist spots and recreation centres are also seen violating the safety measures, including keeping distance from others.

It seems that they have forgotten to maintain such health guidelines with the withdrawal of the strict lockdown, allowing movement of public transport and reopening offices, markets and shopping malls.

While visiting the tourist town of Cox’s Bazar recently, it was found that most of the locals were ignoring the health protocols. Tourists flocking to the world’s longest sea beach were also not paying heed to the health rules.

Like Cox’s Bazar, people in many other rural haats-bazaars, towns and cities, including Dhaka and Chattogram, were not adhering to hygiene rules.

Common people, mostly low-income groups, are not taking the virus seriously as many are unnecessarily thronging streets, footpaths, lanes, by-lanes and kitchen markets.

Police said people in large numbers are coming out of their residences and rushing towards streets, footpaths and kitchen markets.

Health rules are hardly maintained at the kitchen markets while cars, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws move around freely.

People were seen rushing towards shopping malls in private cars, rickshaws and three-wheelers, paying little heed to the precautionary measures.

Many people were seen crowding kitchen markets to buy their essential commodities, ignoring health safety rules.

A housewife, Aklima, was seen going to Kawran Bazar kitchen market along with her domestic help, both without any mask.

Asked why she did not wear any mask, Aklima said it was difficult for her to bargain over prices at the kitchen market while wearing a mask.

Meanwhile, most of the shopkeepers at the kitchen market were seen wearing masks over their chins, thus flouting health safety rules. People were also seen lowering their masks and bargaining with the traders.

Similar scenes were at banks and restaurants in the capital.

Bangladesh lifted the countrywide strict lockdown from August 11 last, allowing public transport to run and offices and shopping malls to reopen.

All government and private offices, banks and other financial institutions, factories and public transport were allowed to operate at their full capacity.

Shopping malls, markets and shops are allowed to stay open from 10:00am to 8:00pm while restaurants from 8:00am to 10:00pm.