ED: Don’t let dengue cripple us

Much has been written about how Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc on our economy, and we are still trying to bring the situation under control as priority number one. But in the past two months, ignored by many, the threat of dengue has only been rising; there were 12 deaths in July and already, half way into the month, there have been 13 deaths in the month of August as a result of dengue. That is a total of 25 in two months, with much of August still ahead of us.

This spike in dengue could not have come at a worse time for Bangladesh, as it struggles to cope with its overwhelming surge in Delta variant cases and deaths, yet, things could still take a turn for the worse if we do not act immediately.

While Covid cases appear to slowly be abating, with no more lockdowns in place, there is the very real threat of the situation aggravating very quickly over the next few weeks. Furthermore, dengue continues to gather momentum, getting worse with every passing week, and the last thing Bangladesh can handle right now is a repeat of 2019, when 101,354 dengue cases and 179 deaths were recorded in Bangladesh.

To that end, it is imperative that the authorities concerned focus a significant amount of attention and resources to put a stop to the escalating crisis that dengue presents us with. This means more prevention drives, more awareness campaigns, and making sure that breeding grounds of mosquitoes are minimized to the best of our abilities.

Our health care sector is already overwhelmed, and we simply cannot afford to let dengue infections get worse and cripple us further.