67 more dengue patients hospitalised in 24 hrs

Sixty-seven more dengue patients were hospitalised across the country in 24 hours till Saturday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), reports UNB.

Among them, 63 patients were hospitalised in Dhaka while the remaining in other places, it said.

As many as 319 dengue patients, including 261 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.

On Tuesday, this year’s death toll from the mosquito-borne viral disease rose to five with two more deaths reported from Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar.

On 21 June, the DGHS reported the first death of the season from the viral disease.

This year, the DGHS has recorded 2,081 dengue cases and 1,756 recoveries so far.

Although dengue – a leading cause of serious illness and death in some Asian and Latin American countries – was first reported in Bangladesh in 1964, the first epidemic occurred in 2000, claiming 93 lives that year. It has since become endemic in the country, with outbreaks recorded every year since. Although for a three-year period at one point, the number of deaths from the virus fell almost near zero, its most fatal year yet was in 2019, when 179 died experiencing the severe form of the disease.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it seemed to take a backseat, as only three deaths were reported from dengue that year.

However, 105 dengue patients, including 95 in Dhaka division, died in 2021.

Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas.