Dengue case increases fivefold in last 5 months this year: Health minister

It is alarming for city dwellers as the dengue cases increased fivefold in the last five months compared to the previous year, Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said on Monday.

A total of 704 dengue cases were recorded in the country and of them 13 met the tragic end of lives till May of the current year, said the health minister while addressing a press conference at his ministry office at Secretariat in Dhaka.

Sensing danger, the government has prepared a guideline and started creating a public awareness campaign to curb the menace of the dengue mosquito in the country, he said.

Apart from these, the government has set up a control room and undertaken all necessary measures at all public hospitals to curb the mosquito-borne disease in the country, said Maleque.

Meanwhile, a total of 72 people were hospitalised with dengue fever in the last 24 hours till Monday morning in the country.

Of the new patients, 58 were admitted to different hospitals in Dhaka and the rest outside it, according to a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Besides, a total of 226 dengue patients, including 198 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at different hospitals across the country.

The DGHS logged 281 dengue deaths in 2022 – the highest on record after 179 deaths recorded in 2019.

It also recorded 62,423 dengue cases and 61,971 recoveries last year.