Arun Bikash Dey

With less than a week left to go for Durga Puja, idol artisans are putting the finishing touches to their figures of Goddess Durga and her sons and daughters -- Kartik, Ganesh, Sharashwati and Laxmi.

Three years have passed since BCL leader of Chattogram city unit Sudipto Biswas was brutally killed, his family still awaits justice.

Fahim Hasan, a student of Chattogram College, uses face mask whenever he goes out. But every time he is outside, he sees a large number of people on roads and public transports ignoring health guidelines amid the pandemic.

On Tuesday morning, Chattogram Zoo welcomed a fifth member to its small, but tightly knit Sambar deer community, after a Sambar fawn was born.

Mirsarai upazila in Chattogram is already a sought after place for tourists. It boasts natural waterfalls in at least 10 different spots. Everyday, hundreds of tourists from across the country come to the upazila to visit the waterfalls.

With no income for over six months, instrumentalists in port city are passing their days amid serious financial crisis as all sorts of social and cultural programmes have remained stopped since March due to the ongoing pandemic.

Many Chattogram residents are dealing with a new financial struggle, as prices of most vegetables have shot up by Tk 10-20 per kg in the span of a week, putting further pressure on families, many of which already saw their incomes fall due to the pandemic.

Public vehicles in the port city are defying government instructions, as they are carrying more passengers than the seat capacity, contributing to further transmission of the coronavirus.

Recreational destinations of the port city were reopened on Saturday after five months, but visitors were few and far between as fear of infection still remains. Moreover, the weather has not been favourable.

Once again residents in port city had to suffer immensely due to waterlogging caused by torrential rain yesterday. Most low-lying areas in the city went under knee- to waist-deep water.

Health guidelines are not being followed in public transports in Chattogram, increasing the risk of worsening coronavirus situation.

Khorshed Alam Sujan took charge as Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) administrator on Thursday. He has been appointed for 180 days as the CCC polls was postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Incessant rain brought sufferings to port city residents, as many areas went under water.

The tenure of the incumbent council of Chattogram City Corporation will expire on August 5 and the government is going to employ an administrator to run the CCC during the interim period until an election is held to elect a new body.

With most doctors not attending chambers for over three months, patients in Chattogram are being compelled to seek health-related suggestions from staff members at various dispensaries, leading to irrational use of antibiotics which can have adverse health impacts in the long run.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been countless incidents across the country of medical services becoming scarce, from overwhelmed hospitals to shut-down private practices. And yet, there were hundreds of doctors and staff who remained resolute to their oath of serving patients.

People in Chattogram are concerned after instances of misleading Covid-19 test reports from private labs emerge there, while an expert says there is a lack of trained manpower in the private labs in port city.

Allegations of mistakes and mismanagement in Covid-19 test results have been growing at the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) in Chattogram city, as the centre continues to work through the health crisis with limited resources.

“Setting up ICU beds is a crying need to save lives. The government has no scope to neglect the issue,” he said.

Sufferings of kidney patients, who are also infected with Covid-19, have doubled as there is no scope of dialysis for them in the port city.