No let-up in dengue deaths

At least five dengue patients died while 796 were admitted to different hospitals across the country in the last 24 hours till yesterday morning.

The number of dengue deaths now stands at 187 while the total number of cases rose to 45,598.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), among the death cases, 115 are in Dhaka, 23 in Cox's Bazar, 20 in Chattogram, seven in Barishal, seven in Khulna, four in Mymensingh, two each in Rajshahi and Narail and one each in Narsingdi, Kustia, Pabna, Khagrachari, Bogura, Madaripur and Feni.

A total of 1,01,354 dengue cases, annual highest, were recorded in 2019 when the death toll was 179.

A total of 42,267 patients have already been released while some 3,144 are still undergoing treatment.  

Meanwhile, experts continue to urge the authorities concerned to conduct extensive drives to identify clusters of Aedes mosquitoes immediately.

A monsoon survey of the DGHS, conducted between August 11and 23, found the presence of Aedes mosquitoes in 13.4 percent of houses under Dhaka North City Corporation and 11.75 percent of homes under Dhaka South City Corporation.

For the survey, a total of 1,319 households of 40 DNCC wards and 1,830 households of 58 DSCC wards were surveyed. It also found 13 wards under DNCC and 14 wards in DSCC to be highly risk-prone as the density of Aedes mosquitoes was found to be higher in those wards.