Noman Mosharef :
About 1,096 dengue cases were reported in the 24 hours till 8am on Monday in 50 district indicating that the mosquito-borne viral disease spread almost all over Bangladesh.
Most of the patients are believed to have travelled from the capital, the epicentre of the outbreak, but authorities do not rule out local infections since a rural variety of dengue mosquito is prevalence outside Dhaka.
Dengue fever has already taken a heavy toll on public life in Dhaka.
Government data confirms the death of eight people only between January 1 and July 28 this year, although unofficial death toll is much higher.
At least 9,510 patients were admitted to hospitals in the first 28 days of July, while four patients died this month, according to the latest Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) control room data.
But the heath experts claimed the number might even go high, as many dengue cases remain unreported.
Currently, 3,847 dengue patients are being treated in hospitals across the country.
The number of dengue patients was 824 on Sunday while 683 on Saturday, 603 on Friday and 547 on Thursday, according to DGHS data.
A number of 13,637 people were admitted to hospitals after getting infected by dengue virus between January 1 and July 29, show the DGHS data.
Meanwhile, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam during a meeting with editors of newspapers, online and televisions media at Gulshan Club on Monday urged to private hospital authorities and said, city dwellers are passing tough time to dealing with dengue. “People in Dhaka city are experiencing an emergency situation. In this situation, all private hospital authorities need to serve patients on humanitarian grounds, forgetting their business,” he added.
Atiqul hoped that they will be able to tackle problem of mosquitoes very soon with the help of the people.
Among others, Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan, SaraBangla Editor-in-Chief Syed Ishtiaque Reza and Daily Observer Chief Editor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, were present at the view exchange meeting.
