Eighteen-month-old Tabassum Alo was crying on her mother’s lap in the children’s dengue ward at Mugda Medical College Hospital yesterday afternoon.

Eighty-one percent of dengue patients who died this year were admitted to hospitals only after running a fever for three or more days, health authorities have reported, highlighting delayed hospitalisation as the leading cause of fatalities so far.

The country yesterday recorded the highest single-day dengue toll, with 12 deaths and 740 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, raising grave concerns over the escalating outbreak.

With five new dengue-related deaths reported yesterday, the nationwide toll this year has risen to 155, showing an alarming trend.

Shortages of dengue medicine should not have been an issue at this critical time

Government must address the shortage in public hospitals

Almost 35 percent of the people who died from dengue are aged between 21 and 40 years, according to the health directorate data.

For the first time in the country’s history, dengue cases outside Dhaka district have outnumbered cases inside the district, raising an alarm that the situation may worsen outside Dhaka.

Hospitals must be better equipped to treat incoming patients

Among the deaths, 10 were in Dhaka

The situation has further deteriorated in June with the onset of monsoon, which is the breeding season for Aedes mosquitoes.

Lessons from past years must reflect in decisions by relevant authorities

At least 281 people succumbed to dengue last year, while 62,382 patients were hospitalised, the highest deaths and second-highest cases ever recorded in the country.

When there were more than one lakh reported cases of the dengue virus in the country in 2019, the death toll was 179, but this year 216 people have died so far from dengue even though cases are around half compared to three years ago.

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The number of dengue patients hospitalised across the country this year is almost 50,000, the second time this has happened in Bangladesh. 

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The deaths from dengue this year crossed 200 yesterday, the highest figure in a single year since the outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in the country.

The spread of dengue across the country requires better public health preparedness

With the number of dengue cases soaring every day across the country, hospitals especially those in the capital are struggling to deal with the patients, health officials say while experts suggest immediate steps to control Aedes mosquitoes.