Highest 287 dengue cases in 24hrs

Health authorities reported 287 new dengue cases in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, the highest recorded this year so far amid a spike in the Aedes mosquito-borne disease in the country.

Bangladesh has been seeing over 100 dengue patients for more than a week, adding worries to the country’s health services, already overwhelmed with growing Covid-19 cases and fatalities.

Of the new cases, most were reported in Dhaka while only eight of them were reported hospitalised outside Dhaka, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

According to the (DGHS), currently, 978 patients are receiving treatment at different hospitals across the country, while just 38 of them were listed outside the Dhaka division.

Some 3,182 patients have been admitted to different hospitals with dengue since January - 2,200 of them have been released after recovery.

The DGHS reported 1,877 dengue cases and three confirmed dengue-related deaths in 2020.

Official figures state 101,354 dengue cases and 179 deaths were recorded in Bangladesh in 2019.

Dengue fever was first reported in Bangladesh in 2000, claiming 93 lives that year. In the years that followed, the country learned to deal with the disease much better, but it did become endemic.

Fatalities almost fell to zero at one stage, before surging again in 2018, leading to the horrific crisis the following year.