By: ChandrashekarBhat
TENS of millions of Bangladeshis defied a Covid-19 surge on Wednesday (21) to join prayers in packed mosques and outdoor locations, as Muslims slaughtered record numbers of animals for the Eid al-Adha festival.
The government has lifted a strict lockdown for a week to allow millions to head back to their villages for the second-largest religious festival in the Muslim-majority country.
The south Asian nation of 169 million people, where two-thirds live in villages, has been hit by a major surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks that shows little sign of abating.
This is despite a tough lockdown in place since July 1, shutting down transport and offices and deploying the military to stop people from leaving for their homes except for emergencies and essential supplies.
More than a million Bangladeshis have now been infected and more than 18,000 have died of Covid-19. The surge has been blamed largely on the Delta variant, first detected in India.
On Wednesday (21), the streets of Dhaka wore a festive look, with people in traditional clothing hugging each other and watching butchers as they slaughtered cows and goats for the three-day celebration.
Iftekhar Hossain, a spokesman for the livestock ministry, said, “a record 11.9 million cows, goats, buffaloes and lambs have been readied for sacrifice this Eid”.
He said authorities have launched an app to facilitate online animal sales as they want to cut crowds in the cattle markets to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“A record 387,000 cows and goats have been sold online,” he said.
The Eid al-Adha animal sale is a $10 billion (£7.3b) industry and is one of the key drivers of the economy in rural Bangladesh.
It is a key reason the government lifted the lockdown to allow cattle farmers to bring their animals to cities.
Mohammad Ali, a farmer, said: “Last year we had to struggle due to the lockdown. This year again, if the lockdown wasn’t lifted, we along with our families would have died starving.”
Ali came to Dhaka with 20 cows from the western border district of Kushtia.
On Tuesday (20), hundreds of thousands of people thronged the Gabtoli cattle market, the largest in the capital, deep into the night for last-minute purchases of animals.
“This is a difficult time. But sacrificing an animal during Eid is mandatory. Being a follower of Islam, how can I deny that? That’s why I came to the market to buy a cow,” Yasir Arafat, 39, a banker said.
