Massive Bangladesh coronavirus prayer gathering sparks outcry

[left-of-center2012]

A massive coronavirus prayer session with tens of thousands of devotees sparked an outcry in Bangladesh Wednesday as the South Asian nation reported its first death from the global pandemic.

Local police chief Tota Miah said Muslims gathered in an open field in Raipur town in southern Bangladesh to pray "healing verses" from the Koran to rid the country of the deadly virus.

"They held the Khatme Shifa prayers after dawn to free the country from the coronavirus," Miah told AFP.

Organisers claimed the number of worshippers was 25,000.

A senior leader from the ruling Awami League, Obaidul Quader, said a lockdown might be required to contain the virus. "If necessary, Bangladesh will be shut down. It'll be enforced where necessary. People must be saved first. We'll do everything for that," he told reporters.

https://news.yahoo.com/massive-bangladesh-coronavirus-prayer-gathering-sparks-outcry-193538973.html

Thousands of Muslims in Bangladesh attend a prayer session amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus (AFP Photo/)

[Moostache]

1. Once the virus takes root in these people, it is all over for them...

India, Pakistan, Bangledesh, Indonesia...

People already living in squalor and filth and marginalized. This disease could wipe out hundreds of millions in those conditions, no matter how fervently they want to bow to Mecca and praise their version of the Sky Daddy, this kind of gathering should simply be viewed as a crime against humanity until the danger of creating thousands of newly infected is past.

Religion in these times is exposed for what it truly is - HARMFUL to humanity and of absolutely NO VALUE in solving problems, only exacerbating old ones or creating new ones. That kind of huge gathering in this time is pretty close to a war crime level action, unless every single one of those people was tested and was negative...

[CaptYossarian]

2. You're doing it wrong.

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Act that dumb, you deserve what you get.

(the rest of us don't deserve the greater spread, though)