1,298 dengue patients admitted to hospitals across country in a day
A record 66,000 dengue patients were admitted to hospitals across the country till yesterday, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
A total of 1,298 patients -- 608 in Dhaka and rest outside -- were admitted to hospitals across the country in 24 hours till 8am yesterday, raising the tally to 66,064.
The annual number of dengue patients never exceeded 11,000 in 18 years, since it broke out in 2000.
The number was 10,148 last year; it crossed the 6,000 mark twice more in 18 years -- 6,232 in 2002 and 6,060 in 2016, according to a DGHS report.
There were 93 deaths in 2000, the year dengue was first reported in the country. A total of 5,551 people got infected that year.
Meanwhile, two persons, including a garment worker, died of dengue yesterday, bringing the death toll from the disease to 118 this year.
However, DGHS has confirmed only 52 deaths.
The garment worker succumbed to dengue after suffering for 14 days at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) early yesterday, reports our Dinajpur correspondent.
The deceased was Mahtab Uddin, 24, son of Saiful Islam, of Uttar Raghunathpur village under Biral upazila of Dinajpur. He was working in Dhaka.
Family members said that Mahtab came home with high fever on Eid day. He was admitted at M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital in Dinajpur after he had been diagnosed with dengue.
On August 18, he was referred to RMCH.
He breathed his last at around 2am yesterday at RMCH after two weeks of treatment, said Dr Saiduzzaman Rubel, associate professor of medicine ward. So far, four people in Dinajpur and Rangpur have died of dengue this month.
In Jhenidah, Sufia Begum, 55, wife of Abdur Rahim of Buria village, died of dengue at Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex.
Hospital sources said she was admitted to the hospital on Monday morning with high temperature, and was diagnosed with dengue.
Kaliganj Upazila health administrator Dr Hussain Shafayat said that her condition drastically deteriorated at around 9:45am yesterday. She passed away soon after, he added.