Dengue hospitalisations in the capital surpassed those in Barishal, which earlier dominated the country鈥檚 dengue caseload this year.
This development came as the viral infections continue to climb countrywide with September already being the deadliest month for the mosquito-borne disease.
According to the Directorate General of Health Services, at least 248 new patients were admitted to hospitals across the country in the 24 hours ending at 8:00am on Friday.
No fresh death was reported on the day.
With the latest figures, 40,709 people have been hospitalised with dengue since January and at least 167 of them have died.
Public health experts, however, believe that the actual number of cases and fatalities is considerably higher than reported, as the health services collect data only from selected hospitals.
For the first half of this year, Barishal remained the worst-hit division, recording the highest number of patients.
But in past weeks, Dhaka has overtaken Barishal in hospitalisation numbers, signaling a shift in the outbreak鈥檚 epicentre.
According to DGHS data, of the total hospitalisations so far this year, at least 11,927 occurred in Barishal division, 10,560 in Dhaka city corporations, 6,259 in Chattogram division, 5,894 in Dhaka division, 2,781 in Rajshahi, 2,074 in Khulna, 822 in Mymensingh, 278 in Rangpur, and 144 in Sylhet.
Epidemiologist and former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research AM Zakir Hussain told 抖阴精品 that historically dengue hit Dhaka the hardest, but this year Barishal 鈥� particularly Barguna 鈥� had emerged as an early hotspot.
An analysis of DGHS data shows that until the 30th endemic week 鈥� mid-July 鈥攁t least 15,585 hospitalisations and 58 deaths were recorded.
Of them, Barishal alone reported 6,407 hospital admissions, while Dhaka聽 logged 3,333, placing Barishal at the top,
followed by Dhaka and Chattogram.
But the pattern has changed a few days ago. Between the 30th and the current 39th endemic week, a total of 25,124 new hospital admissions and 109 deaths were reported.
Of these, Dhaka accounted for 7,227 admissions, overtaking Barishal, which recorded 5,520 during the same period. Chattogram ranked the third.
The DGHS update further indicates that dengue infections have expanded across the country, with 45 deaths in September already emerging as the deadliest month of the year surpassing the previous high of 41 fatalities in July.
The month has already registered the third-highest 9,233 hospitalisations, still with 11 days left.
Bangladesh also witnessed deaths from dengue in most months.
At least 10 people died in January, three in February, seven in April, three in May, 19 in June, 41 in July, and 39 in August. No deaths were reported in March.
Monthly breakdowns show that this year, 1,161 hospitalisations were reported in January, 374 in February, 336 in March, 701 in April, 1,773 in May, 5,951 in June, 10,684 in July, and 10,496 in August.
Public health experts have repeatedly cautioned that without stronger vector-control measures, improved data collection, and better-equipped hospitals, the crisis may continue to spiral.
Dhaka South City Corporation鈥檚 acting chief health officer Dr Nishat Parveen admitted the trend.
鈥楨very day we are getting a few new dengue cases,鈥� she said, adding that she assumed the cases were now on the rise in Dhaka.
Dhaka city corporations officials claimed that they have strengthened their anti-mosquito activities within their limitations.
They said that the city corporation was spraying larvicide in the morning and using fogging in the evening to control the aedes mosquito.
Md Liton Mia, 55, a resident of Mirpur said that he even did not found any anti-mosquito activities in his area in a week.
The residents in Mohammadpur, Kalayanpur, Green Road and in parts of the old city like Narinda, Bangshal and Jatrabari also said that they
very occasionally saw anti-mosquito drives in their areas.
Bijan Kumar, a resident of Dhupkhola area of Old Dhaka said that the city corporation was not doing fogging even once in a week in his area.
Entomologists feared that dengue cases might increase more in Dhaka as infected aedes mosquitos are there with huge breeding potentials.
National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine professor and an entomologist Golam Sarwar said that the authority should now start hospital-centric crash programme and patient tracing.
He said that if the authority could not control the situation immediately, it would bring more sufferings for the residents and fatalities as well.
The Directorate General of Health Services on Tuesday issued a 12-point directive asking hospitals to prioritise dengue treatment as hospitalisations and deaths continue to rise across the country.
The DGHS authorities asked hospitals to form specialist-led medical boards to supervise dengue and chikungunya treatment.
ICU support must be prioritised for critical patients while suspected cases should receive urgent NS1 tests and round-the-clock diagnostic and treatment services.
It also instructed hospitals to allocate designated wards or spaces for admitted dengue patients and assign dedicated doctors and nurses under the medical board for exclusive care.
Public health experts said that without controlling mosquitos and checking the number of patients, hospitals would not be able to serve people well as dengue patients were flooding most of the hospitals.
