Number of dengue patients in first week of August nears July record

The number of dengue patients hospitalised in the first week of August has nearly reached the figure of July.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 8 August 2019, 05:15 PM
Updated : 8 August 2019, 05:16 PM

Throughout July, hospitals across Bangladesh admitted 16,223 dengue patients, a record number for a month, while the number in August until Thursday morning is 16,205, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

Before this, the highest number in a month was in September last year - 3,087.

The total number of dengue patients hospitalised so far this year has reached 34,666 with 2,326 admitted to hospitals in the 24 hours to Thursday.

The number of new dengue patients outside the outbreak’s epicentre Dhaka rose slightly to 1,167 from 1,153 of the previous 24 hours as tens of millions of people have started leaving the capital to spend Eid-ul-Azha holidays in their home towns or villages.

The number of dengue patients hospitalised outside Dhaka was 707 on Aug 1, which means the daily rate of new dengue patients in the districts outside the capital rose by 65 percent.  

The government has issued an advisory for people to follow before leaving homes in Dhaka in order to tackle dengue in the capital by destroying the breeding grounds of Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of dengue virus.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the holidaymakers to undergo dengue test before leaving Dhaka if they catch fever so that the disease cannot spread further across the country.

The government has confirmed 29 deaths from dengue so far this year after reviewing the fatal cases, but a bdnews24.com count shows dengue has claimed as many as 91 lives.