Over 1 Lakh People Gather For Funeral In Bangladesh Defying COVID-19 Lockdown

DHAKA: Deying the coronavirus lockdown and outbreak fears, more than 100,000 people attended the funeral of a senior leader of the Islamist party in the district of Brahmanbaria in Bangladesh on Saturday.

According to media reports, the estimated size of the crowd at funeral was confirmed by the prime minister's special assistant, Shah Ali Farhad and the Brahmanbaria police spokesman, Imtiaz Ahmed.

The funeral for Maulana Zubayer Ahmad Ansari, an Islamic teacher, broke the country's ban of no more than five people attending prayers at one time. The event has sparked the fears of a new coronavirus outbreak again.

Speaking to the media, the joint secretary general of the Islamist party, Mohammad Mamunul Haque said that, tens of thousands of people flooded the roads to Brahmanbaria district, walking from the surrounding areas to attend the funeral

"We wanted to make a small arrangement for the funeral following the government's guideline on maintaining health safety. But people gathered out of their respect without our knowledge. We have no idea how it happened," said Mufti Mubarrok Ullah, Principal of Jamia Rahmania Madrasa.

Police said that a committee is being formed to start an investigation into how such a large crowd was allowed to congregate at the funeral.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh have shut down seven villages to control the spread of the coronavirus, officials said.

So far, Bangladesh has reported 2,456 confirmed cases and 91 fatalities due to novel coronavirus.

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