4 die, 914 more hospitalised with dengue in 24hrs
Staff Correspondent
The number of dengue cases reported in Bangladesh this year appears set to cross the 300,000 mark amid the worst outbreak of the disease that has shattered all previous records.
Hospitals in the country logged 914 new cases of deadly dengue fever in the latest daily count, taking the tally of infections this year to 299,964.
The death toll from the mosquito-borne disease rose by four to 1,543 in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, according to the Directorate General of Health Services.
In Dhaka, hospitals admitted 204 dengue patients in this period while the other districts recorded 710 new cases. The death toll outside the capital was three.
Of the 5,186 dengue patients undergoing treatment in hospitals across the country in the morning, 1,307 were in Dhaka and 3,879 outside the capital.
After a record 79,598 dengue cases and 396 deaths in September amid the worst outbreak of the disease, 67,769 cases and 359 deaths were reported in October. The number of cases in August was 71,976, with 342 deaths.
The death toll in the first 18 days of November is 195. As many as 28,789 new dengue cases have been recorded in this period.
Experts have blamed a prolonged monsoon and rising temperature, along with a lack of effective measures to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the known carrier of the virus, for the outbreak.
