Dengue fatalities in Bangladesh have surged to their highest monthly level this year, with 86 deaths recorded in the first 23 days of November — surpassing all previous monthly totals of 2024, with a week still remaining.
The Directorate General of Health Services, in its daily update on Sunday, reported eight new deaths and 778 fresh admissions in the 24 hours until 8:00am.
With this, the official dengue death toll in 2024 rose to 364, and total hospitalisations to 90,264.
Hospitalisations have also climbed sharply, reaching 20,402 so far this month.
In comparison, October saw at least 80 deaths and 22,520 hospitalisations, and experts warn that the upward trend may continue for several more weeks.
Public health specialists have long cautioned that without aggressive mosquito-control drives, timely data analysis, and better-prepared healthcare facilities, the country will continue to see high fatality and infection rates.
According to DGHS data, at least 10 people died of dengue in January, 3 in February, 7 in April, 3 in May, 19 in June, 41 in July and 76 in September. No death was reported in March.
Besides, the country recorded hospitalisation of 1,161 dengue patients in January, 374 in February, 336 in March, 701 in April, 1,773 in May, 5,951 in June, 10,684 in July, 10,496 in August and 15,866 others in September.
Health officials say the continued spread of Aedes mosquitoes — the carrier of the dengue virus — indicates that dengue has effectively become a year-round public health threat.
Bangladesh has faced recurring outbreaks since its first official one in 2000, when 93 deaths and 5,551 cases were reported. But the situation has deteriorated sharply in recent years.
In 2023 alone, dengue claimed 1,705 lives and hospitalised 3,21,179 people — a toll far surpassing the cumulative 853 deaths and 2,44,246 hospitalisations recorded between 2000 and 2022.
The previous year also saw a severe outbreak, with 575 deaths and 1,01,214 cases.