25 people die from dengue fever in 2 months in Bangladesh

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - At least 25 people died from dengue fever in less than two months in Bangladesh, mostly in the capital Dhaka, amid a surge in critical coronavirus patients who need healthcare facilities in the city.

Five children were among the dengue victims, as were 12 who died in July and 13 in August, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on Monday night.

The directorate also said that the children died at the Dhaka Children's Hospital while undergoing treatment.

Earlier in 2020, the DGHS had reported three confirmed dengue-related deaths and 1,193 cases.

An additional 221 Dengue patients on Monday, including 199 admitted to hospitals in Dhaka, raised the total caseload in the country to 6,321, while

Of the total infected, 5,264 people made recovery, said DGHS.

- Simultaneous Dengue-COVID threat

Deaths caused by dengue fever are feared to multiply amid a scarcity of intensive care units (ICU) across the country as hospital beds and ICUs are already occupied by coronavirus patients.

Bangladesh on Monday reported 174 more deaths and 6,959 new cases of COVID-19, raising the death toll to 24,349 and the total case count to 1,425,861, according to the DGHS.

Experts fear that dengue may have spread across the country, including major cities, as many people in the capital Dhaka went to their hometowns last month to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha.

The government plans to set up separate healthcare facilities and dedicate hospitals for the mosquito-borne fever.

Health Minister Zahid Maleque said recently that the government was planning to dedicate six hospitals to dengue patients.

In addition to regular mosquito extermination efforts, mobile courts have been opened in parts of the capital to fine households that fail to clean mosquito larva.

Dengue fever had killed at least 179 people and infected 101,354 in 2019 in Bangladesh's deadliest outbreak of the disease in its history.

Dengue outbreaks usually appear during the yearly monsoon season in the densely populated South Asian country. The disease was first reported in Bangladesh in 2000, when it claimed at least 93 people.