Staff Correspondent: Dhaka, Jul-29,

Even though the Covid-19 crisis is deepening, traffic on the streets of capital Dhaka is increasing with every passing day amid the lockdown enforced to contain the highly transmittable Delta variant of the virus.

The number of vehicles and people increased substantially on Dhaka streets on Thursday, the seventh day of the 14-day strict lockdown.

Many people were seen coming out and wandering without any valid reason while health protocols are hardly maintained in most cases.

However, the movement of private vehicles has increased as many private offices have arranged vehicles for the movement of their own staff. But public transport stayed off the roads as per the directives of the government.

People were seen reaching their destinations by rickshaws as it is available during the lockdown.

Traffic inspector Asaduzzaman, said, “The number of vehicles is increasing day by day. We’re checking every vehicle. Those who failed to justify their outdoor movement are fined and cases lodged for violating lockdown rules.”

As the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to sweep through the country, Bangladesh on Wednesday logged 237 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours.

With the new deaths, the country's fatality figures have topped 20,016. Bangladesh has been seeing nearly 200 deaths every day for the past two weeks breaking the records of daily cases and deaths almost every other day.

Besides, 16,230 more people came out Covid positive after the test of 53,877 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

This was the highest-ever single-day transmission after the country saw a record 15,192 Covid cases on Monday. With the new numbers, the total caseload has mounted to 1,210,982.

End/Dct/Wa/Sam/