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2,694 new dengue cases, 4 deaths in a day

FE REPORT | Tuesday, 1 August 2023



Bangladesh reported four deaths from dengue in 24 hours till Monday morning as the dengue outbreak has taken an alarming turn.
As many as 2,694 dengue patients were admitted to different hospitals across the country in the last 24 hours, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
In the latest daily update, the total death toll from dengue hit 251 this year, the DGHS said.
Some 63.9 per cent of dengue patients are male while 36.1 per cent are female, it said.
It said among the patients, 1,168 were admitted to several hospitals in Dhaka.
A total of 42,195 dengue patients were released from hospitals.
A total of 51,832 dengue patients got admitted in various public and private hospitals in the country so far since January, DGHS said. Among them, 29,200 were admitted to the hospitals in Dhaka, it added.
According to reports by agencies July has seen the highest number of dengue cases in a month at 43,854. The death toll this month is 204.
The dengue outbreak has been worse in 2023 than in previous years.
Last year, hospitals up and down the country reported 62,382 patients taking medical care, and the death toll stood at 281, the highest since the record-keeping began for dengue hospitalisations in the 1960s.
Bangladesh witnessed over 100,000 dengue hospitalisation in 2019, which stands as the record number of cases in a single year. The official death toll that year was recorded as 179.
A pre-monsoon government-funded survey of Dhaka city has uncovered an alarming surge of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, known carriers of the dengue virus, fuelling the worst spread of the disease over the past five years.
Most of the deaths caused by dengue occurred due to haemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome, which health experts associated with some new variants of the deadly virus, previously undetected in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has extended its ongoing month-long anti-mosquito drive for another month, till August 31, to curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam came up with the announcement while talking to reporters after distributing books among the students of Mollartek Udayan Government Primary School at Dhaka's Dakkhin Khan area on Monday.
Replying to a question, the DNCC mayor said, "We will apply biological pesticide to destroy the Aedes larvae soon and it can be possible to control dengue if we can start a social movement with the involvement of all."

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