825,000 dengue cases in 8 months as d e a t h toll soars to 597

More than 825,000 people have been admitted to hospitals with dengue in the first eight months this year. Of them, 597 have died. Such a high number of dengue cases and casualties are unprecedented in the history of the country.

The dengue season this year is not over yet. The highest number of dengue cases was recorded in October last year. The dengue death toll was the highest in November last year. The month of September has just begun. Nobody can predict how the situation will be after this month or by the next two months at this moment. However, there is no indication of any improvement right now as there has been no significant initiative undertaken countrywide by the government as yet.

A boy sits on the hospital bed as he has been hospitalised with dengue in the capital’s Mugda Medical College and Hospital on 11 July 2023.

Dengue patients have been admitted to hospitals since January this year. There have been reports of dengue related casualties right from the first month of the year as well. A total of 566 dengue patients were admitted to different hospitals across the country in January. Of them, six died. However, the situation intensified from mid-June as the pressure of dengue patients at hospitals soared up. The death toll started rising simultaneously.

A total of 5,956 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country in June and 34 of them died. The death toll rose to 204 with 43,854 more dengue cases the next month. The numbers of patients shoot up in August with 71,976 dengue patients admitted to different hospitals and 342 casualties. The country never witnessed such a number of patients and casualties in a month.

According to the bulletin of the health emergency operation centre and control room of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Friday, a total of 1,534 dengue patients were admitted to different hospitals in 24 hours from 8:00 am Thursday to 8:00 am Friday. Some four patients have died in this time.

In total, some 124,342 dengue patients have been admitted to hospitals this year. Of them, 597 patients lost their lives.

There was no account of the situation in the 21 public and private hospitals in the capitals, including big hospitals like Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Mugda Medical College Hospital, in the capital in the DGHS bulletin on Friday. As of Thursday, these two hospitals have recorded 101 and 100 dengue related casualties respectively.

This year, the dengue outbreak spread rapidly across the 64 districts of the country, according to the DGHS control room. It says the number of patients admitted to hospital is higher outside Dhaka. However, the number of casualties in Dhaka is double that of outside the capital.

Read More