Dengue enshrouds almost all of Bangladesh as cases, deaths surge

Dengue fever has spread to almost all parts of Bangladesh, with the number of cases and deaths from the mosquito-borne disease surging.

Out of the 64 districts, no dengue patient has been hosptalised in Kurigram and Gaibandha so far this year.

In 2019, when the government reported a record 101,354 dengue hospitalisations, the disease was found in all the districts. As many as 164 dengue patients died that year.

The number of hospitalisations over dengue this year was 49,300 as of Monday morning, the second highest annual count. The patients included 760 hospitalised in the 24 hours to 8am.

The death toll this year, however, has increased to 205, with three deaths in the latest daily count.

Bangladesh recorded 28,429 hospitalisations last year as the disease was found in 57 districts.

The hospitals across Bangladesh were treating 2,989 dengue patients on Monday morning -- 1,767 of them in Dhaka.

Along with mosquito attack, dengue cases increase during monsoon 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 after the monsoon ended.

The hospitals admitted 21,932 dengue patients in October alone. The death toll last month was 86. The DGHS reported 64 deaths from the disease in the first 13 days of November.

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