Dengue death toll rises to 162 with another death

Another death from dengue in 24 hours till Friday morning raised this year's fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 162.

During the period, 498 patients were hospitalised with the viral fever, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The latest death was reported from Khulna division, taking its death toll to seven.

The death toll remained unchanged at 100 in Dhaka division, at 41 in Chattogram, six in Barishal and at four each in Rajshahi and Mymensingh.

Of the new patients, 325 were admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka and 173 outside it, according to the DGHS.

A total of 3,660 dengue patients, including 2,232 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.

The directorate has recorded 41,481 dengue cases and 37,659 recoveries so far this year.

On Thursday, the country reported nine dengue deaths, the highest death toll from dengue in a day this year.

Even before the country's healthcare system has been able to fully recover from the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is being hit hard by a recurrence of an outbreak of dengue, the disease that is endemic to Bangladesh.

Doctors and health experts say that measures taken by the city corporations and other authorities are not proving to be effective. The publicity and drives carried out by the authorities to destroy larvae of Aedes mosquito are proving to be inadequate.

Dengue outbreaks in Bangladesh exceeded all previous records in 2019, mostly in the capital city of Dhaka. A total of 101,354 dengue cases with 179 dengue-related deaths were officially recorded.