(20 Aug 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4340368
Bangladesh is suffering through its deadliest surge yet of the coronavirus pandemic.
The South Asian nation home to 165 million people has done away with most virus restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen after weeks of strict measures put in place following the arrival of the highly contagious delta variant.
The move, at a time when deaths and new infections are still rising and vaccination rates remain low has alarmed health experts, who warn that the country can't handle more cases when the health care system is already overwhelmed.
But those in favor of reopening say the risks of staying closed are even greater, including pushing tens of millions of people back into poverty in what was already one of the world's poorest nations.
Ending the lockdown kicked off earlier in August with the reopening of Bangladesh's prized garment factories after a two-week closure.
Bangladesh's clothing factories, part of the world's second-largest garment industry, have been exempted from most of the lockdowns, other than the two weeks that ended at the beginning of the month and another 11 days at the beginning of the pandemic last March.
Nevertheless, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association estimates the industry lost $3 billion (US dollars) in orders last year.
Health experts say they are sympathetic to the economic cost of lockdowns. But they say restrictions should not be eased when the recorded daily cases are averaging 10,000 and daily deaths have climbed above 250.
Some garment factories closed and at least 300,000 workers were laid off, often without severance, according to the Bangladesh Center for Workers' Solidarity.
Munni Begum has been out of work since last year, when the garment factory where she worked closed.
Begum's husband is a rickshaw driver but doesn't earn enough to support their family of four.
She says they must starve in order to feed our children.
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