14 more die of dengue

Staff Reporter :
Dengue has claimed more 14 patients in 24 hours till Sunday morning, raising the fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in the country to 327 this year.

During the period, 2,751 more patients were hospitalised with the viral fever, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Of the new patients, 1,119 were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka and the rest outside it, according to DGHS.

A total of 9,572 dengue patients, including 4,652 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.

So far, the DGHS has recorded 69,483 dengue cases and 59,584 recoveries this year.

In this backdrop, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque has said efforts will be made to bring dengue vaccine if approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The minister said this at a press conference on human papilloma virus (HPD) vaccination to prevent cervical cancer at the secretariat on Monday.

“The vaccine (dengue vaccine) has not yet been developed. If the World Health Organisation approves it, we will try to bring this vaccine,” said the minister.

“We found that the number of patients was very high in July, we got about 45,000 patients. In 2022, there were only 1,500.

We got 15,000 patients in August. In all, 66,700 patients have been treated and 313 have died.

The mortality rate did not increase as much as the number of patients.

The number of deaths has increased due to the increase in the number of patients,” he said.

“To control dengue, you have to control the Aedes mosquito.

Where this mosquito is born, the larvae should be destroyed by spraying. There are city corporations, municipalities, we have advised them,” said Zahid.

There are 3,000 beds for dengue in Dhaka, the health minister said, adding that “Now 2,100 patients are admitted. The rest of the beds are empty.

There are patients outside Dhaka.

There are 5,000 beds ready in hospitals outside Dhaka. More than 9,000 dengue patients are admitted across the country, he added.