Dengue cases have seen a 53-percent increase in the last one week and of the total deaths from the disease, 58 per cent occurred within 24 hours of the patients being admitted to hospitals, according to the official data.
The health authorities registered 12 more deaths on Monday due to the mosquito-borne disease, including 8 from outside Dhaka, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the new deaths, the total number of fatalities now stands at 646, including 468 from Dhaka.
Hospitalisations of as many as 2,823 patients were also reported during the same period till 8:0am on Monday across the country, including 1,818 from outside Dhaka, according to DGHS daily update.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said, "In most cases, dengue patients die due to delay in seeking treatment,"
"And, little can be done if a patient gets admitted to hospital late," he added.
The minister made the remarks while addressing a function to hand over 20,000 dengue testing kits from Sinovac Biotech in China at the secretariat on the day.
Terming each death saddening, he said there is no shortage of dengue treatment and nor is there any scarcity of saline in the government hospitals.
"Dengue cases have increased in district towns even though the Dhaka city corporations have reported decrease," he added.
The health minister said, "The city corporations should take effective measures to eradicate dengue and we want to see that immediately."
"There is no point in working if mosquitoes multiply. Mosquito control should be done throughout the year," he added.
Dengue appears to coincide with the rainy season from May to September and higher temperatures in Bangladesh, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The health authorities also continued to report a growing number of new cases outside Dhaka.
The total dengue cases rose to 133,134. Of the total cases, 71,645 were from outside Dhaka, added DGHS. A total of 9,069 people were being treated in hospitals across the country. Of them, 5,017 were from outside Dhaka.
Of the total admitted, 123,419 patients made recovery and returned home, including 66,450 from outside Dhaka.
Last year, 281 people died due to dengue, the second highest in the history of the country.
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