Commuters heading home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha were stuck in monster traffic snarls on the two national highways in Gazipur on Tuesday. Long tailbacks were witnessed on both the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways in Gazipur in the morning due to a mad rush of home-bound people as well as vehicles carrying sacrificial animals amid the devastating second wave of Covid-19. Read: Facing hazards, Eid holidaymakers keep moving out of Dhaka The closure of several garment factories in Gazipur for Eid contributed to the mad rush while the potholed stretches of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway owing to the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project made the situation worse. Moreover, lack of public transport vehicles like buses and launches forced many to hire microbuses, CNG auto-rickshaws and even pickup trucks to reach their destination. A reality check by UNB revealed that all Covid-safety protocols went for a toss as people barely followed social distancing norms, despite law enforcement agencies keeping a strict vigil on the roads. Bangladesh on Monday saw 231 corona-related deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country, amid an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown. The situation is likely to get worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause ahead of Eid holidays, many experts believe. Read: Holidaymakers' torturous journey goes on With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh have already tallied more than 1.1 million infections and 18,000-plus deaths from the pandemic. The country's fatalities have been hovering at roughly 200 for the past two weeks. Also, Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh have reached 99% of the peak, with more than 11,828 new cases reported each day. The highest daily average was reported on July 15. The country recorded 13,321 infections in 24 hours till Monday morning after testing 45,012 samples. Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 230 on July 11 and 13,768 infections the next day. The second wave of the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm the country's health infrastructure. There have been 1,117,310 infections and 18,125 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 29.59% though the death rate remained unchanged at 1.62%, and the recovery rate dropped to 84.25%. Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Khulna 57, Chattogram 43, Rangpur 17, Rajshahi 16, Mymensingh 11, Sylhet eight and Barisal six. So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,908,272 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.    

Markets for sacrificial animals officially opened in the capital city on Saturday, but their arrivals are very slow as huge tailbacks on highways and ferry terminals  stranded hundreds of cattle-carrying trucks for hours. The delayed arrivals may cause a shortage of cattle in the markets and push the prices up at the last moment, said traders talking to the UNB correspondent.   Over 500 trucks carrying cattle and goods were found waiting for five to 10 hours to cross River Padma due to heavy traffic at Banglabazar-Shimulia route, according to UNB local correspondent on Saturday afternoon. Though trucks from various districts in the south are waiting to cross, cattle traders have complained that more private vehicles are getting priority to board the ferries. Read: Atiqul warns stern legal action for Covid rule violation in cattle markets The long agonising wait on board the trucks in intense heat is making many animals sick. Traders reported the death of 25 cattle because of their being stranded on not-too-comfortable trucks amid hot sun and occasional rains. The traders said it is taking 10 to 12 hours to get a ferry to cross the river which is time-consuming and making the cattle sick.