At least 1,283 people in 50 districts have been identified with dengue virus this year as the mosquito-borne disease continues to spread rapidly across the Bangladesh.
According to data released by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), between January 1 and July 29 this year, the number of dengue diagnosis saw sharp rise outside Dhaka with 1,283 cases reported from different districts under seven divisions—Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barisal, and Sylhet—till 8am on Monday.
However, physicians from several districts claimed that most patients were infected when they visited Dhaka earlier and then the virus spread to their hometowns when they came back.
Chittagong has the highest admission rate, 391, followed by 370 in Dhaka, 203 in Khulna, 171 in Rajshahi, 61 in Rangpur, 57 in Barisal, and 30 in Sylhet division, as per the data compiled by DGHS’s Health Emergency Operation Centre and Control Room.
Meanwhile, the dengue outbreak in Bangladesh reached a record high till 8am on Monday with at least 1,096 patients getting hospitalized in the last 24 hours.
A number of 13,637 people were admitted to hospitals after getting infected by dengue virus between January 1 and July 29, reveals the DGHS data.
This year, number of dengue patients saw highest records, breaking all past statistics of last 19 years. Among them, 11,450 were hospitalized in first 29 days of July alone.
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Almost all hospitals in Dhaka are struggling to cope with the increasing flow of dengue patients, with many public hospitals accommodating patients on the floors.
Hospitals and clinics across Bangladesh are facing shortage of facilities, making them struggle to provide services to dengue patients.
Doctors and staff at hospitals are not able to handle the huge number of patients flooding the hospitals with dengue symptoms.
Data compiled by the Health Emergency Operation Centre, and Control Room of the DGHS said that some 3,847 patients were currently undergoing treatment for dengue.
Officials, however, said the numbers would be much higher as many cases remain unreported.
Dengue, a mosquito-borne virus, spreads among humans when an infected Aedes mosquito bites them. It has no known cure or vaccine yet.
Although the government data says only eight people have so far been killed from the virus, the unofficial tally of reported deaths stands at 33 as of Sunday.
