114 deaths from dengue in the first 6 months, the health authorities assess the emergency

Yesterday the peak of 8 deaths in one day was reached, with more than 1,500 people hospitalized. Unlike in the past, the spread of the virus has not stopped in the past two years. Two Catholic girls among the victims. According to experts, the national figures do not reflect the reality of the country, especially with regard to infections outside the capital.

Dhaka () – The Bangladeshi health authorities have expressed concern about the spread of the dengue epidemic in the country. Yesterday the death toll reached a daily peak of 8 people, a record for 2023, and at the same time there were 1,589 people hospitalized in the last 24 hours. The National Department of Health reported that in just over six months, 114 people died from the virus transmitted by mosquitoes, including two Catholic girls, Anila Rozario, 4, and Nidra Sunnicholas, 11, both belonging to the diocese. . from Dhaka, where his parents had moved in search of work.

Nidra Sunnicholas was attending a First Communion preparation course at Tejgaon parish and was due to receive the sacrament on September 1. Father Jhalok Anthony Dashai, vice-parish priest of Tejgaon parish, told : “We are very sorry that one of our students has died of dengue. We announced it during the mass on Sunday so that families become aware that children are more vulnerable.

Of the people hospitalized yesterday, 847 are in the capital, while the remaining 742 are in public and private centers outside of Dhaka. Since the beginning of the year, 22,467 patients have been hospitalized, more than 14,000 of them in the capital. This month 67 people have already died, compared to the 9 that were registered last year in July.

Local specialists fear that if the number of patients continues to increase in this way, it could lead to a health crisis. Mostak Ahmed, a consultant and former chief scientist at the government’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), believes that dengue has taken the form of an epidemic: “We have to start preparing now. In addition to equipping hospitals, we must take measures to hire more doctors and health personnel,” he said, noting that the four types of viruses identified, very similar to each other, are spreading.

Until a few years ago dengue was considered a seasonal disease, but in the last two years the situation has changed and there has been no interruption in infections. The situation has worsened especially in urban areas.

However, the Bangladesh Department of Health believes that the time has not yet come to declare an emergency in the country. But that, too, is being reviewed after health authorities held an online press conference on the situation on July 16. The Director General of the Department of Health, Abul Basar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, explained: “The time has not yet come to declare a health emergency. To do something like that, you have to raise it at the political level. We have already communicated our concerns and if necessary I will report back to the Executive.”

In all of 2022, 62,382 patients were admitted and 281 died, with contagion peaks in July and August. But health experts believe that these figures do not reflect the reality of the country because many people are cared for at home and information from hospitals, both public and private, does not arrive regularly. The one that corresponds to health centers outside of Dhaka, in particular, is more difficult to reach the statistics center of the Department of Health.