Bangladesh factories open as economic worries trump virus
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh is suffering through its deadliest surge of the pandemic, but you wouldn’t know it looking at its factories, markets and malls.
The South Asian nation home to 165 million people has done away with most virus restrictions, allowing businesses to reopen to enthusiastic crowds following weeks of strict measures put in place following the arrival of the highly contagious delta variant.
The move at a time when deaths and new infections are still rising and vaccination rates remain low has alarmed health experts, who warn that the country can’t handle more cases when the health care system is already overwhelmed. But those in favor of reopening say the risks of staying closed are even greater, including pushing tens of millions of people back into poverty in what was already one of the world’s poorest nations.
Ending the lockdown kicked off earlier this month with the reopening of the country’s…