Five people have died from dengue fever in Bangladesh over the past 24 hours, while 622 new patients have been admitted to hospitals across the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
With the latest fatalities, the death toll from dengue this year has risen to 161, and the total number of hospitalised patients has climbed to 39,192.
The DGHS bulletin released on Wednesday, 17 September, said that among the five deceased, three died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital and two at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Four were women and one was a man.
Of the 622 new admissions, 199 were reported from the two Dhaka city corporation areas. The rest came from outside Dhaka: 107 from other parts of Dhaka division, 19 from Mymensingh, 98 from Chattogram, 14 from Khulna, 48 from Rajshahi, 8 from Rangpur, and 131 from Barishal division.
Currently, 1,965 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at hospitals nationwide — 729 in Dhaka and 1,236 in other districts.
July saw the highest number of dengue deaths this year with 41 fatalities. The DGHS reported 10 deaths in January, 3 in February, none in March, 7 in April, 3 in May, 19 in June, 39 in August, and 39 more up to 17 September.
Hospital admissions have also surged in recent months. In July, 10,684 patients were admitted — the highest so far in 2024. Admissions in previous months were: January 1,161, February 374, March 336, April 701, May 1,773, June 5,951, and August 10,496. By 17 September, 8,338 patients had already been admitted.
The DGHS has been tracking dengue data since 2000. The worst outbreak came in 2023 when 321,179 people were hospitalised and 1,705 died — the highest on record.
