Bangladesh reports 759 dengue cases, 12 deaths in a day

The caseload so far this year stands at 307,196, and the death toll rises to 1,595

Child dengue patients are forced to lie on makeshift beds next to the stairway at Dhaka's Mugda Medical College Hospital as there is no more space in the child dengue ward. Photo: Md Tawhidu

The number of dengue cases so far this year in Bangladesh has increased by 759 to 307,196 in the latest daily count.

The mosquito-borne disease caused 12 deaths in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, taking the toll this year to 1,595, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.

In Dhaka, hospitals admitted 184 patients in this period, while the other districts recorded 575 new cases. The death toll outside the capital was 9.

Of the 3,924 dengue patients undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country in the morning, 1,046 were in Dhaka and 2,878 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 the first twenty-five days of November is 247. As many as 36,021 new dengue cases have been recorded in this period.

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.