‘Foreign flights bring dengue in Bangladesh’

Staff Reporter :
Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Md Tajul Islam on Sunday said that Bangladesh did not have Aedes mosquitoes before, but foreign flights may have brought them in the country.
“Neither we had the Aedes mosquitoes nor the disease here in Bangladesh. The mosquitoes came from foreign countries by flights or with some passengers from abroad,” the minister said while addressing a meeting organized to review the activities of the city corporations and other ministries to control dengue infections.
“Before 2019, the country did not suffer too much from dengue. We did not have much experience with the disease. But after 2020, we understood the sting of the viral fever more and knew which sectors have to be involved,” Tajul Islam said.
In general view, the dengue infections would be declined soon.
It is sad to say that October is coming to an end, but there is no sign that the dengue infections are reducing yet,” he said.
The minister said that population density is one of the main reasons why the mosquito-borne virus spreads so quickly here, the minister said.
The minister said also that the Mayors of both city corporations collected the gadgets importing to kill mosquitoes and were allocated Tk2 crore and Tk5 crore.
The minister said also that neighbouring countries of Bangladesh are suffering more from dengue outbreak.
“India reported some 200,000 dengue cases on Saturday. Cases and death rates are especially high in Kolkata,” Tajul Islam said.
Till October 1, Singapore reported 28,196 cases, but the numbers have increased since then.
“Some 37,950 dengue cases were reported in Malaysia, 94,355 cases in Indonesia, and 145,650 cases in the Philippines,” the minister said.
“On the other hand, till October 26, Bangladesh reported 33,923 cases, which is a lot less than most neighbouring countries,” the minister said.
Tajul Islam said that the government aims to get dengue cases below 2,000, which was reported in 2021.
Meanwhile, two more deaths from dengue in 24 hours till Sunday morning raised this year’s fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 136.
During this period, 1,020 more patients were hospitalised with the viral fever,

according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The two deaths were reported from Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions.
With this, the Dengue death toll in Dhaka division rose to 82 and to 4 in Mymensingh division.
The death toll remained unchanged with 38 in Chittagong, five in Barisal, five in Khulna, and two in Rajshahi division.
Of the new patients, 618 were admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka and 402 outside it, according to the DGHS.
A total of 3,630 dengue patients, including 2,350 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.