News in Brief-(2024-01-16)

BD logs no dengue death, 33 new cases
Hospitals in Bangladesh have recorded 33 new cases of dengue fever in a day, taking the tally of infections this year to 703 after the worst outbreak in the country's history in 2023. The death toll remained unchanged at seven, with no fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in the 24-hour count to Monday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services. In 2023, Bangladesh recorded 321,179 hospitalisations and 1,705 deaths from the viral disease. In the latest daily count, hospitals in Dhaka admitted 13 more patients, while the other districts recorded 20 new cases. Of the 215 dengue patients undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country in the morning, 98 were in Dhaka and 117 outside the capital. Experts attribute the outbreak to a prolonged monsoon and rising temperature, along with a lack of effective measures to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the known carrier of the virus. — bdnews24.com

2000 yaba recovered from stomach
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested two alleged drug dealers, including a teen-aged girl, and recovered nearly 2000 Yaba tablets that they had swallowed to avoid detection by law enforcers, from the Sher-e-Banglanagar area in the city on Sunday night. The arrestees were identified as Md Russel (26) and his accomplice Sanjida Akhtar (18). An operational team of Rab-2 battalion headquarters obtained information on Sunday night at around 10:35 pm that two drug dealers were coming to Dhaka with a consignment of drugs. Based on the information, the operational team of the elite force set up a check post on the street in front of Pangu Hospital under Sherebangla Nagar police station. While they were implementing a search of a passenger bus, two passengers towards the back of the bus started acting very suspiciously and were detained for questioning. During interrogation, Russel admitted that he was carrying yaba in his stomach. Russell was then taken to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where further tests including an X-ray revealed the presence of a palm-shaped polythene-wrapped yaba packets in his stomach. — UNB