Bangladesh has tightened a clampdown on seven villages after tens of thousands attended the funeral of a popular local cleric in spite of a nationwide lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus, officials said yesterday.
The massive gathering in Brahmanbaria district, about 60km east of the capital Dhaka, has raised concerns about the potential for a spike in infections in a country of 160mn people with poor medical 
infrastructure.
“We’ve strictly ordered all residents of the seven villages to stay at home at all times at least for the next 14 days so we can identify if anyone contracted the virus following Saturday’s gathering,” 
a local police officer said.
Police had not expected such a large number of people to gather for the funeral, defying a weeks-long lockdown that forbids going out except for groceries and medicine. Local media said few of the mourners wore masks.
The government has ordered the two most senior policemen in the district to be removed from duty for failing to prevent crowds gathering for the funeral prayers of Maulana Jubayer Ahmed Ansari who died of cancer 
on Friday, the police said.
According to sources, police had agreed with the family of Maulana, that only 50 people would attend the funeral in the eastern town of Sarail because of the risk of spreading the disease.
But the local police were helpless to stop the crowds who came to honour the 55-year-old popular preacher and seminary head.
Organisers said some 100,000 attended the funeral. Aide to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Shah Ali Farhad, also said more than 100,000 were present.
The government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 26 as coronavirus spread across the country.
Bangladesh has 2,456 confirmed coronavirus cases and 91 deaths. The government-imposed lockdown is in place until at least April 25 but many are starting to flout the rules including garment workers who took to the streets over the weekend 
demanding back pay.
New rules ban more than five people taking part in prayers in the country’s 300,000 mosques.
Powerful religious leaders are also continuing to allow small congregations at mosques despite the risk of contagion and warnings from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Many people are still attending Friday prayers and the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan later this week, when typically more worshippers will gather at mosques, will put additional pressure on authorities, officials said.