Arun Bikash Dey

For the last couple of days, the number of deaths due to Covid-19 has been on the rise in the rural areas of Chattogram. Even the positivity rate remains higher compared to that of the port city.

Residents of Chattogram city woke up to a bad day yesterday, as incessant rainfall brought back all-too-familiar problems.

It’s good news for vaccine-seekers of Chattogram, as 91,200 doses of Sinopharm vaccine have reached the port city yesterday.

The open market sale (OMS) service of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has brought much relief to the low- and lower-middle income groups in the port city recently, as prices of daily essentials, especially soybean oil, have shot up in retail market.

Even amid the pandemic, hundreds of conservancy workers in port city take to the streets to clean up the waste produced in the day. However, they continue to collect the waste without using any safety equipment, putting them at risk of being infected by various diseases.

A group of researchers detected Chattogram's first cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant, which was first found in India.

Public vehicles in Chattogram city are defying government instructions for movement during the pandemic in every way possible.

Most low-lying areas in Chattogram city went under knee-to-waist-deep water yesterday due to incessant rain, causing immense sufferings to city dwellers.

Tuli Chowdhury (not her real name) recently went to a gynaecologist, who advised her to undergo breast screening. Tuli had heard that Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) charges much lower for the test than private diagnostic centres.

After Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury took office on February 15, he started a 100-day crash programme to solve some of the city’s key issues on priority basis. Even though 95 days have gone by, most of the problems still persist, and the mayor’s promises remain unfulfilled.

After a brief break following the Eid holiday, vaccination centres in Chattogram have resumed operations with second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Saturday. Only this time, they are providing 100 doses per day, due to severe shortage of stocks.

At 12 noon on Friday, rickshaw-puller Md Belal stood at Jamal Khan Road with his clothes stuck to his body with sweat. The 37-year-old has been

Retired schoolteacher Ratna Raha received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) General Hospital on March 25. She is scheduled to get the second dose on May 25, but then news broke of the shortage of vaccines in the country and Ratna has been worrying for her second dose ever since.

Around 89 percent of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in RT-PCR tests, and 26 percent who tested negative in Chattogram, developed antibodies against the virus, according to a study conducted by researchers in the port city.

A study by researchers of Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) found that mostly the UK variant and partly the South African variant of coronavirus are behind the second wave of Covid-19 in port city, which started in late March.

With 185 new cases detected in 24 hours till 10pm yesterday (Friday), number of Covid-19 cases has crossed the 50,000 mark -- 393 days into the detection of the first case -- in Chattogram.

Most of the upazila health complexes in Chattogram have no high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) facility, although all 14 of them have isolation wards to treat Covid-19 patients. Even many of the medical centres have no central oxygen system.

Intern doctors of Chattogram Medical College Hospital suddenly went for work stoppage yesterday following a clash between two factions of CMC unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League the day before, causing suffering to patients.

The 70-bed Bidyanondo Field Hospital was inaugurated at Sagarika in the Halishahar area of the port city on April 15. The hospital is equipped with all facilities to treat Covid-19, said the hospital’s coordinator, Jamal Uddin.

In the week before the enforcement of the strict lockdown on April 14, Chattogram’s rate of infection was hovering around 12 percent to 20 percent. But in the days since then, the rate has jumped up.