Covid, dengue grip nation

With sudden outbreak of dengue coupled with the on-going apocalyptic Covid-19 pandemic, a sense of doom has been hanging over Bangladesh as any respite from these fatal diseases is not in sight. Covid situation is getting worse day by day with showing no sign of abating as the death toll from the virus reached as much as 199 in a single day on Thursday, juxtaposing previous day's number of deaths at 201.  

Dengue is looming now as another catastrophic crisis across the country as a total of 601 people have been admitted in various hospitals with dengue infections since January this year. During the 24-hr span till 8pm on Thursday, over 36 dengue infected patients were admitted in Dhaka's different hospitals while surprisingly, there was no dengue case reported from anywhere of the country. 

Bangladesh witnessed worst ever dengue epidemic in 2019 when  over one lakh people got infected with and more than 179 died, prompting the government to initiate a comprehensive policy to fight the deadly disease. In 2000, around 1,405 cases of dengue were identified and the death toll was mere 9.

This year there was no death from the dengue infections until now, according to data compiled by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Health Emergency Operations Centre. But an assistant professor of the general history department at Jagannath University, Syeda Nasrin Bably, 35, reportedly died of the disease in the early hours of July 8.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh logged a record-high of 11,651 Covid infections cases and 199 deaths in 24 hours till Thursday morning, taking the country’s total death toll to 15,792 and caseload of  989, 219 respectively.

The  number of cases on Thursday found after the test of 36,850 samples during the period, which puts the country’s case positivity rate at a peak 31.62pc, according to a handout provided by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The country’s fatality rate remained static at 1.60pc as of Wednesday, said the DGHS.

Of the deceased, 107 were above the age of 60, 47 were aged between 51 and 60, 28 aged between 41 and 50, six between 31 and 40, nine between 21 and 30, and two between 11 and 20.

Dhaka had the highest number of cases among the eight divisions with 4,949 during the period. Khulna saw 1,732, Chattogram 1,936 and Rajshahi 1,048, while Rangpur saw 744.

Dhaka also accounted for 65 fatalities in the single-day count, the most among the eight divisions in the country. Khulna was second with 55 deaths, followed by Chattogram with 37, Rajshahi with 15 and Rangpur with nine.

Nationwide, another 5,987 people recovered from the illness, bringing the total number of recoveries to 850,502.