Bangladesh dengue death toll in November hits 93, highest in a month on record

The health authorities have reported 93 deaths from dengue fever in the first 21 days of November, the highest in a month in Bangladesh.

The government reported the previous highest monthly death toll of 90 in August 2019.

The hospitals across the country admitted 606 dengue patients in the 24 hours to 8am on Monday, taking the number of hospitalisations so far this year to 53,413.

The number of patients hospitalised with dengue across Bangladesh in a year crossed 50,000 for the second time on record on Nov 16.

The death toll from the mosquito-borne disease increased to 234 with four new fatalities in the latest daily count, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

As many as 140 deaths occurred in Dhaka and 57 in Chattogram.

The hospitals across Bangladesh were treating 2,351 dengue patients on Monday morning, including 1,258 in Dhaka.

In 2019, the government reported a record 101,354 dengue hospitalisations and 179 deaths.

Along with mosquito attack, dengue cases increase during monsoon in the middle of the year in Bangladesh as stagnant water becomes the breeding ground of Aedes-aegypti mosquito, the carrier of the dengue virus.

This year, however, the cases started to rise in August and continued the upward trajectory.

The hospitals admitted 21,932 dengue patients in October alone. The death toll last month was 86.

Experts believe the actual number of dengue patients and the death toll is much higher as the official figures leave out those who do not get hospitalised while many people do not get tested.