Dengue death toll rises to 200, highest in 22 yrs
The death toll from mosquito-borne viral fever this year rose to 202, which is the highest number since 2000 when the government formally began keeping records on dengue.
Bangladesh reported three new deaths and 859 cases of hospitalisation in the last 24 hours till 8am Sunday.
With the latest addition, the case tally rose to 48,529.
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Besides, 45,138 dengue patients were discharged from hospitals in about 11 months of the year.
Criticism on dengue control, not treatment: Health Minister
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said that there is widespread criticism of the dengue control and no one is saying anything about the treatment.
"Dengue control is not in our hands. It is the job of other ministries. Health ministry provides treatment only," he told a programme on Sunday by joining virtually at a city hotel while launching the new guideline for dengue.
The minister said that working people aged between 20 to 40 years, especially women, are getting infected with dengue more this year. Dengue patients are dying within three days after being affected as they delay getting hospitalised, he added.
"We successfully tackled dengue in 2019. At that time there was criticism too on dengue control, not treatment," he said.
"After that, Covid came and we treated people with a treatment protocol during that time which played an effective role across the country," he said.
Now again dengue has come and the previous treatment protocol has been rearranged to some extent which would help bring down the casualties, Zahid Maleque said.
