According to official figures, more than 1,000 people have died from dengue fever in Bangladesh since the start of the year, marking the worst outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease ever recorded in the country.
Figures released by the Health Services Directorate-General on Sunday evening suggest that 1,006 people have died out of more than 200,000 confirmed cases.
According to former health service director Be-Nazir Ahmed, the number of deaths recorded since the start of the year is higher than in all previous years combined since 2000, when Bangladesh recorded its first dengue outbreak.
“This is a major health event, both in Bangladesh and around the world,” he told AFP.
“The epidemic is putting enormous pressure on Bangladesh’s health system,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an online news conference last month.
Dengue fever is a disease endemic to tropical areas that causes high fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most severe cases, bleeding that can lead to death.
Dengue fever and other diseases caused by mosquito-borne viruses are spreading faster and further due to climate change, the WHO has warned.