Housebound Bangladesh celebrates Eid in the shadow of coronavirus

To Muhammad Nuru, Eid-ul-Fitr means buying new clothes for his children and other members of the family and travelling to Munshiganj to celebrate the occasion with their loved ones.

The grocer of Dhaka’s West Razabazar is not thinking about celebrations this year; his mind is rather full of fears of coronavirus infection.

“Shopping? I don’t see an iota of Eid!” he exclaimed in shock and panic.

Eid in Bangladesh falls on Monday this year, but fear and sorrow have replaced the words ‘celebration’ and ‘joy’ as housebound Muslims prepare to spend the festival day amid the pandemic.

COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, claimed 480 lives until Sunday morning with 28 new deaths in a record single-day spike. The caseload has surged by 1,532 to 33,610.

President Md Abdul Hamid greeted the people on the occasion and urged all to follow health safety rules properly and maintain social distancing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a televised address to the nation urged members of the public to stand beside the poor and vulnerable groups.

In addition to the rampant coronavirus outbreak, the country is also reeling from the devastation wrought by Cyclone Amphan which claimed over 20 lives and caused an estimated Tk 11 billion worth of damage to infrastructure and crops in the coastal districts.

Abdullah Muaz, a journalist who hails from Khulna, the hardest-hit district, shared on Facebook photos of people stranded by floods after storm surge and wind gusts damaged tens of thousands of homes.

“Being alive is their Eid,” he wrote.

The efforts to prepare for the storm had been complicated by the outbreak, to stem which a lockdown in the form of general holiday has been in effect since Mar 26.

Hasina urged all to celebrate Eid at home just like Bengali New Year and other celebrations the nation missed due to the outbreak.

The government allowed shopping malls to reopen before the Eid, but the public transport system has remained shut. The workers of the sector are without a job for nearly two months.

The picture is the same in many other sectors as the plummeting spending across the globe led to job losses and little or no income for a large portion of the population.

For the over 25,000 COVID-19 patients who have not recovered yet, Eid will be just another day in the battle for life. Doctors, nurses and other health workers will have no respite either.

Leena Parvin, who works at a private organisation, said her younger brother had been hospitalised with COVID-19.

The family were now anxious as they were waiting for five days for the last test results.

“The families that don’t have a member infected with the coronavirus won’t understand the mental trauma we are going through. May God not give even my fiercest of enemies such perilous time,” she said. 

There will be no open-air Eid prayers this year, including at the National Eidgah in Dhaka and the largest congregation ground in Kishoreganj’s Sholakia, as the government has ordered the worshippers to offer the prayers in mosques in their neighbourhoods.

The mosques can organise more than one congregation to ensure social distancing. Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka will hold five congregations at 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am and 10:45am.

All worshippers must wear face masks to the mosques after ablution at home.

And there will be no hug or handshake to exchange Eid greetings.

“It’s an abnormal Eid. I’ve never seen such an Eid before. The Eid came amid panic in 1971 [during Liberation War], but this time people cannot even leave their homes,” said Serajul Islam Choudhury.

“The children celebrate the joyful occasion most. They are in great danger now,” the professor emeritus at the Dhaka University’s English Department said.

He pointed out that the main parts of Eid – huge shopping, allowances, profit, bonus, hangouts, visiting relatives and friends – are not there this year.

“People are in fear instead,” he added.