There is no alternative to following health guidelines strictly, until the situation improves. Vaccines are a must to tackle the pandemic.

— Dr Abdur Rob, head of Covid ward at Ctg General Hospital

The Covid-19 infection rate in Chattogram hit almost 13 percent yesterday, the first time after four months.

A total of 222 cases were detected after testing 1,790 samples in 24 hours till 12:00am, putting the positivity rate at 12.40 percent.

The infection rate was nine percent on Tuesday and 5.85 percent on Monday. Yesterday's rate was the highest in four months. The district witnessed a similar rate on August 31.

A total of 174 positive samples were from the city and 48 from different upazilas, said Dr Elias Chowdhury, civil surgeon of Chattogram.

No patient died yesterday, but according to experts, after the capital, the port city is becoming a Covid-19 hotspot in the country.

The situation has been getting worse since last week. Just 35 cases were detected in the district on January 4, with a positivity rate of 2.07 percent, said sources in Chattogram Civil Surgeon office.

With cases increasing daily, the rush of patients is also increasing at hospitals. For example, the number of daily patients admitted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital's Covid ward was hovering from 10 to 12 last week, whereas it increased to 60 yesterday, said CMCH Director Brig Gen Shamim Ahsan.

However, the death rate is low; three deaths were reported against 953 positive cases from January 4 till yesterday.

Experts warned that if the infection rate keeps increasing, the death rate would also increase. They emphasised ensuring strict health guidelines.

Public health expert Prof Shakeel Ahmed, head of Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases laboratory thinks the Omicron variant is responsible for the recent rise of infection rate.

"I found positive cases after testing samples of a good number of expatriates and their family members," he said. "As people are participating in social programmes without maintaining health rules, the infection rate is increasing."

Dr Abdur Rob, senior consultant of medicine and head of Covid-19 ward at Chattogram General Hospital, said there is no alternative to following health guidelines strictly, until the situation improves. Vaccines are a must to tackle the pandemic.

Dr Hasan Shahriar Kabir, Chattogram divisional director of DGHS, said learning from past experience, the hospitals are ready for any situation.