Bangladesh reports nine dengue deaths in highest daily count this year

Another 740 people are hospitalised with the mosquito-borne disease

Bangladesh has recorded nine more deaths from dengue fever over the past 24 hours as daily fatalities rose to a year high.

Another 740 people were hospitalised with the Aedes-mosquito borne disease in the last 24 hours, which is also a yearly high, the health directorate reported on Sunday.

This brings the total number of deaths due to the disease to 179 this year, and the total number of hospitalisations this year to 40,461.

According to the health directorate’s bulletin, the tally of deaths for Sunday includes three fatalities from Saturday, totalling 12 deaths. Therefore, nine deaths have occurred in the last 24 hours.

Earlier, six people died of the mosquito-borne illness on Sept 11.

The deaths occurred at different hospitals, including three at Barishal Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, two at Kurmitola General Hospital, two in Barguna Patharghata Upazila Health Complex, and one each at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Mugda Medical College Hospital, DNCC COVID-19 Hospital, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, and Evercare Hospital in Chattogram.

Of the dead, six are male, and the other six female. Six of them were aged between 24-34 years, two between 45-48, and the others 57-65.

The month of September has seen a notable spike, with 57 deaths reported until Sunday, surpassing the previous high of 41 fatalities in July.

Bangladesh also witnessed deaths from dengue in other months, including 10 in January, three in February, seven in April, three in May, 19 in June, and 39 in August. No deaths were reported in March.

July saw the highest number of hospital admissions with 10,684 patients, followed closely by August with 10,496.

Other months saw varying figures, including 1,161 in January, 374 in February, 336 in March, 701 in April, 1,773 in May, and 5,951 in June. As many as 10,355 patients have been admitted this month.

Of the 740 new patients in the past 24 hours, 239 were from the two Dhaka city corporation areas.

Another 145 were from elsewhere in the Dhaka Division, 77 in Chattogram, 166 in Barishal, 28 in Rajshahi, 52 in Khulna, 22 in Mymensingh, three in Rangpur, and eight in Sylhet.

At present, 2,021 dengue patients are receiving treatment in hospitals across the country. Of them, 756 are in Dhaka and 1,265 outside the capital.

The health directorate has tracked dengue cases since 2000. The worst outbreak came in 2023, when 321,179 patients were hospitalised and 1,705 died.