Festival travel, vaccine shortage put Bangladesh at risk

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Tens of thousands of people left Bangladesh's capital on Thursday to join their families in home villages to celebrate the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Fitr, despite stark warnings that the exodus could worsen the country's sharply rising coronavirus outbreak.

People crowded exit points in Dhaka, defying a nationwide lockdown in effect until Sunday and a suspension of long-distance passenger buses, trains and ferries.

Authorities urged citizens not to congregate to offer special prayers for the festival on Friday and instead pray in phases in the country's more than 300,000 mosques while following health guidelines.

Health officials fear the chaotic mass travel will spread the coronavirus, especially a potentially more dangerous Indian variant already detected in the crowded nation of 160 million people, and reverse a recent hard-won decline in cases following weeks of nationwide lockdown.

Barricades and police posted on highways and at ferry terminals failed to stop the exodus on Thursday marking the end of the monthlong fasting month of Ramadan.

Many people walked or took risky rides in the back of produce trucks or small motorized vehicles to get to local ferry terminals to cross the mighty rivers. At least five people have died in stampedes since Wednesday when people packed ferries beyond their capacity. On Thursday, the body of a sixth person was retrieved from the water after a car fell into a river as it hurried to get a space on a ferry.

Shila Akhter, an employee at a private company, said she was desperate to join her family.

“As Muslims, we should celebrate Eid with our families,” she said. “Dhaka is the place of work for many of us. We work for the whole year. So, once in a year, we need to go home to our children and...