Dengue cases were on the rise at the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, with 619 Rohingyas being infected with the mosquito-borne disease here in 24 hours till Monday morning.
According to Cox’s Bazar civil surgeon’s office, out of the 668 people that were admitted to different health centres in the district during the period, only 49 are Bangladesh nationals.
As many as 2,841 people have been infected with dengue in the district since January as of Monday. Four people have died in the last six months and all are Rohingyas.
Of the total, 2,676 dengue cases were reported in Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas’ Rohingya camp-centric areas of which 2,521 are Rohingyas and 155 are locals residing around the camps.
Pankaj Paul, a statistician of Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon’s Office, said five camps of the Rohingya camp have become very vulnerable to dengue. Out of this, 620 dengue cases were reported in Camp 3, and 171 in Camp 17, 167 in Camp 4, 115 in Camp 1, and 24 in Camp 24.
Cox’s Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s Office Health Coordinator Dr Abu Toha said, “Even though more dengue cases have been detected in the Rohingya camp, it cannot be said to be alarming.”
“Due to increasing awareness, it is possible to identify the victims quickly. Four Rohingyas died of dengue and 99% of patients recovered,” he added.
Record 8 die, 1,589 hospitalised in 24 hours
Eight more dengue patients have died and 1,589 were hospitalised across the country in the last 24 hours till Monday morning, which is the highest in a single day.
Of the new cases, 847 were reported in Dhaka city and the rest were from various parts of the country.
A total of 5,441 dengue patients, including 3,347 in Dhaka, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data.
With the latest figure, a total of 114 dengue patients have died in the country and 22,469 were admitted to hospitals this year. Out of the deaths, 24 were children, the data shows.
Deaths from dengue higher than last 5 years
DGHS said the mortality rate of dengue patients (0.55%) is higher as of 17 July this year compared to the last five years.
During the same period in 2018, the death rate of dengue patients was 0.26% while it was 0.50% in 2020.
Women are dying more but males are more affected. People aged between 18 and 40 years are mostly infected with dengue and die. Both death and infection rates are high in Dhaka city, the DGHS data says.
