Dhaka, June 11 -- With a fresh uptick in coronavirus cases, Chattogram's two designated COVID-19 hospitals face a severe equipment crisis, putting intensive care out of reach for critical patients.

Both Chattogram General Hospital and the Bangladesh Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (BITID) are running without a single functional ventilator.

At Chattogram General Hospital, all 18 intensive care unit (ICU) beds remain vacant as none of the ventilators are in working condition.

The ICU service has effectively been shut since early April.

BITID in Faujdarhat has five ICU beds, but lacks ventilator support entirely.

Most of the kits currently available in Chattogram are expired, leaving public testing services largely paralys...