Haunting Photos of Bangladesh’s COVID Pandemic

25 Agustus 2021

By Mohammad Rakibul Hasan
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Aug 25 2021 (IPS)

Documentary photographer and filmmaker Mohammad Rakibul Hasan has documented the health crisis in Bangladesh over the past several months. In these haunting images, Hasan brings to life the conditions in which many patients are being treated in poor conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hasan was awarded the Lucie Awards Discovery of the Year 2018. He also received the 23rd Human Rights Press Awards for his series “The Looted Honor” on rape survivors of Rohingya Refugee from The Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong, Amnesty International and the Hong Kong Journalists Association that recognizes top reporting on Asian news.

In Bangladesh, from January 3, 2020, to August 23, 2021, there have been 1,467,715 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 25,399 deaths, according to WHO. As of August 17, 2021, a total of 21,728,150 vaccine doses have been administered.

Medical professionals clean their used items of clothing and reusable and washable equipment in a COVID-19 make-shift hospital at the Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A medical professional is preserving the swab sample from a COVID-19 patient at the Rohingya Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in Bangladesh. The fight against coronavirus pandemic in the refugee camp is challenging as most live in densely packed temporary hut-like temporal houses are densely made in the camps, where social distancing is impossible. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A swab is being taken at the Rohingya Refugee Camp. There are many COVID-19 tests booths that the government and humanitarian organizations have installed for the host communities and the Rohingya Refugees around the camp area. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

Mehrun (pseudonym) is a leprosy patient staying in a missionary leprosy hospital in Nilphamari, Bangladesh. If left untreated, Leprosy can create complications. Mehrun has lost her left eye, and her right one is being treated at the hospital. “After God, only doctors can treat my eye, and I love seeing the world,” she said. The health system is buckling under the latest wave of the pandemic with the highly contagious Delta variant.
Place: Nilphamari, Bangladesh Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A critically ill COVID-19 patient is treated in the ICU in a hospital bed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Most of the hospitals with ICU beds are occupied in Dhaka. The increased rates of infections and deaths every day are alarming, and the ferocity of the Delta variant of the disease is crippling the health system. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

There is a critical shortage of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and other critically ill people in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The highly contagious Delta causes most infections in the country. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A COVID-19 positive patient is being treated in ICU in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Medical professionals are dedicated to their jobs, but coronavirus infection rates among doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals is increasing. It has become harder for all hospitals in Bangladesh to fight the third wave of the pandemic. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

A young boy has come to a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in critical condition during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)

During the strict lockdown in Bangladesh, more than 20 horses used for tourism in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which has the longest sandy beach globally, have died due to food shortages. The pandemic has broken the economic backbone of communities, especially in the low GDP countries across the globe. Credit: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (Documentary Photographer/filmmaker)