Bangladesh records nearly 50,000 dengue patients hospitalised so far in 2019

The hospitals in Bangladesh have admitted nearly 50,000 patients with dengue fever so far this year, including 31,538 in the first half of August.

The number of such patients totalled 49,999 until Friday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

The number excludes those diagnosed with the mosquito-borne viral fever but treated at home.

As many as 1,719 dengue patients were hospitalised in the 24 hours to 8am on Friday, including 759 in the epicentre of the outbreak Dhaka. In this period, 1,573 were released.

In the previous 24 hours, the number of new patients hospitalised with dengue stood at 1,929 as the daily rate of patients hospitalised with dengue continued to rise across Bangladesh after a slight drop during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays.

On Friday morning, the hospitals were treating 7,716 dengue patients, including 4,015 in the capital.

Fears of a rise in dengue cases in September remain as Bangladesh experiences rains in the month, according to Ayesha Akter, an assistant director at the Emergency Operation Centre of the health directorate.

The directorate will watch the situation for one more week to assess whether the outbreak may intensify, she added.