‘No mask, no service’ policy seems no more effective in the country. Besides, other health safety guidelines prescribed by the government to prevent transmission of coronavirus are also being ignored grossly by ordinary people.
Generally, it is noticed that people in public places, offices, factories and markets and transports in the country neither are wearing face mask nor using any hand sanitizer. Even, worse, many of the ignorant people seem to be complying with the health safety rules on is maintaining social distancing at any places.
It should be mentioned that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as the government and different of its agencies concerned have put emphasizes on the wearing of face masks and use of sanitizers to prevent the second wave of COVID-19.
They also have asked for conducting mobile court drives to enforce the government policy and directives.
But, different agencies responsible for making people habituated to obey the rules are also seen relaxed in performing their duties.
In these circumstances, experts are apprehending further deterioration of the situation due to COVID-19 pandemic like in many on the countries, including UK and the USA where many people are known to be violating the government instructions on following health safety rules.
Police and district administration officials, however, said that they were facing difficulties in the enforcement of the government policies and health guidelines due to reluctance by general public.
Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, said that she favoured raising awareness among people instead of punishing them with big fines as stipulated in the Communicable Diseases (Prevention, Control and Eradication) Act 2018. “The poor will not be able to pay big sums of fine,” she explained.
The Cabinet Division also issued three circulars setting guidelines on the public movement.
In a circular issued on June 30, the cabinet division asked everybody to wear a mask, maintain physical distancing and abide by other health safety guidelines set by the DGHS while out of home.
It also asked everybody to strictly maintain social distancing and the health guidelines at marketplaces and use sanitizers while entering into the shopping malls.
In the latest move, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed concerned authorities to strictly implement the “no mask, no service” policy at every government and private office, in the wake of the second wave of the Covid-19.
“The ‘no mask, no service’ policy will have to be implemented firmly. It’ll have to be enforced at any cost,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying by Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam at a press briefing.
Noting that there is no room for complacency over the current Covid-19 situation, she said that everyone will have to be careful over the possible second wave of coronavirus attack. “No one should come to office under any circumstance without wearing a face mask,” she said.
Islam said all secretaries and field-level officers have already been asked to execute the decision strictly at their offices and subordinate offices.
He said that the government is going to execute the decision so that services cannot be availed without wearing masks at government and private offices under any circumstances.
