Dengue death toll crosses 500-mark in Bangladesh

Bangladesh today exceeded 500 dengue deaths as 13 new deaths were reported in the last 24 hours till 8:00am today, while 2,070 were admitted to different hospitals during the same period.

"During the period, 857 dengue patients were hospitalised in Dhaka city while 1,213 were admitted to different hospitals outside Dhaka," said a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

"This year, 506 deaths, the highest in a year since dengue was detected in 2000, were reported from dengue disease while 281 died last year," the daily statement of the DGHS said.

According to the data of DGHS, Bangladesh set an all-time record as dengue positive cases reached 1,02,191 on August 21 this year while the highest dengue cases were 1,01,354 in 2019 since the mosquito-borne diseases were detected in 2000.

The country witnessed the all-time record in terms of dengue positive cases and deaths as the authorities have reported 506 dengue-related deaths till August 23 while the highest fatalities were 281 in the last year.

According to the experts, August and September are normally considered as peak months for dengue outbreak, but the peak period was extended till November last year.

They predicted that the ongoing dengue outbreak may prolong till November as a large number of Aedes mosquitoes are grown this year while met office forecasted that rainy weather is likely to extend during the months of October and November.

With the new cases, the total number of patients rose to 1,06429, the statement said, adding, "Some 98,098 patients were released from different hospitals this year of the total patients."

"A total of 7,825 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of them, 3,580 are in Dhaka while 4245 are outside the capital city," it added.

According to the DGHS statement, among the total dengue positive cases, 40,040 are female and 66,389 are male, while 288 deaths from dengue are female and 218 male.