Bangladesh’s official death toll from dengue rose to 217 across the country since January as one more dengue patient died in Dhaka city the past 24 hours till Thursday morning.

In the past 24 hours ending 8:00am on Thursday, 685 people were admitted to health facilities actoss the country, of which 353 were reported in Dhaka city and 332 in other places outside the capital city, said a press release of the Directorate General of Health Services.

With the latest figure, a total of 51,444 patients with dengue were admitted to hospitals this year while many took treatment at their homes.

Presently, 2,750 patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals across the country and 1,524 were admitted to 53 Dhaka hospitals with the mosquito-borne viral disease.

The yearly death toll due to dengue hits all-time high this year that has one and a half months to go.

The government started keeping records of dengue deaths and patients since 2000.

A total of 33,352 or 64.83 per cent of this year’s total hospitalisation was reported in Dhaka city, according to the DGHS release.

A total of 76 patients died of dengue and 13,420 patients were hospitalised in November, showing a rising trend of dengue infections and fatalities.

Of this year’s total dengue deaths, 129 died in Dhaka city, one each in Narsingdi and Madaripur districts, 54 in Chattogram division, 11 in Khulna, nine in Barishal, five in Mymensingh and six in Rajshahi divisions, the press release said.

The number of hospitalised dengue patients was 21,932 in October, 9,911 in September, 3,571 in August, 1,571 in July, 737 in June, 163 in May, 23 in April, 20 each in February and March, and 126 in January, according to the official data.

Month-wise, one died in June, nine in July, 11 in August, 34 in September, 86 in October and 76 in 17 days of November.

In April, the health directorate in a pre-monsoon survey found a higher density of Aedes mosquitoes in the capital compared with what was found in 2021, with experts predicting a worsening dengue situation this year in the city unless preventive steps were taken.

The DGHS revealed its monsoon survey in September and found the mosquito density twice as high in Dhaka city as in the pre-monsoon survey.

In 2021, at least 28,429 dengue patients and 105 deaths were recorded officially.