Dengue cases cross 9,000 mark

At least 267 more dengue patients were hospitalised in the last 24 hours till 8am yesterday. According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 50 of these cases are from outside Dhaka.

With the new cases, a total of 6,462 were diagnosed this month, out of the total 9,120 infected this year. Of the total, 655 cases are from outside Dhaka.

At least 2,286 patients were hospitalised in July, 272 in June, while 43 were infected in May.

According to the DGHS, 40 people have died of dengue infection in the country this year, all whom died between July and August. 12 people died in July while 28 have died in August so far.

Though most hospitalised patients have been released, 1,090 are still undergoing treatment at hospitals in Dhaka, while 125 are under treatment outside the capital, the DGHS data shows.

Amid the rise in dengue cases, the Directorate General of the Health Services (DGHS) on August 23 announced six hospitals dedicated to treating the dengue patients.

The hospitals are: Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master General Hospital in Tongi; Railway General Hospital at Kamalapur, 20-bed Aminbazar Govt Hospital, Lalkuthi Hospital in Mirpur, and 31-bed Kamrangirchar Hospital.

Some 101,354 dengue cases and 179 deaths were recorded in Bangladesh in 2019.