Bangladesh registers 72 dengue cases, 1 death in a day

The tally of infections this year stands at 321,073, as the death toll rises to 1,703

With the number of dengue patients at DNCC Hospital lower than it can accommodate, many beds remain empty in the facility. Photo: Tawhiduzzaman Tapu

The number of dengue cases so far this year in Bangladesh has increased by 72 to 321,073 in the latest daily count.

The mosquito-borne disease caused one death in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, taking the toll this year to 1,703, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

In Dhaka, hospitals admitted 32 patients in this period while the other districts recorded 40 new cases. The death was reported in the capital.

Of the 734 dengue patients undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country in the morning, 289 were in Dhaka and 445 outside the capital.

After a record 79,598 dengue cases and 396 deaths in September amid the worst outbreak of the disease, 67,769 cases and 359 deaths were reported in October. The number of cases in August was 71,976, with 342 deaths.

The death toll in November was 274. As many as 40,716 new dengue cases were recorded last month.

Experts have blamed a prolonged monsoon and rising temperature, along with a lack of effective measures to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the known carrier of the virus, for the outbreak.