Helemul Alam

Amid the rise in dengue cases, the government on Monday dedicated six hospitals for treating dengue patients. However, it has been four days, but only two hospitals have started treatment till yesterday.

Nine-month-old Ismail has been undergoing treatment at Dhaka Shishu Hospital for around two months, and around a month and a half ago, underwent surgery for his brain tumour.

Dhaka Shishu Hospital yesterday gave treatment to 80 dengue infected children admitted to the facility, the highest ever at a time.

The absence of an effective mechanism to check Aedes mosquitoes, including proper and timely surveillance by the city corporations, is mainly to blame for dengue cases spiralling in the capital and elsewhere in the country, experts say.

Leaving a 40-day-old baby behind, Tabassum Shahirin died of dengue yesterday morning while undergoing treatment at Enam Medical College Hospital.

Thanks to the pandemic, the animals in Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka have had a blissful year, spared as they were the usual chaos, sound of vuvuzelas and prodding from curious onlookers.

After months of stalling, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) yesterday finally announced that 25 people died of dengue at different hospitals across the country this year.

As a person’s chance of being infected with both dengue and Covid-19 is rising, the health directorate has taken an initiative to train doctors involved in dengue treatment across the country tomorrow.

The government only recently decided to set up warning systems in 723 lightning prone areas in the country, even though 2,400 people died in lightning strikes over the past decade, including 19 just yesterday.

Dengue patients have been struggling to find treatment at the public hospitals in the capital as the major facilities are burdened with Covid-19 patients.

Major terminals and depots in the capital have become ideal breeding grounds for Aedes mosquito, the carrier of dengue virus, thanks to puddles formed in discarded tyres and plastic containers.

Most of the dengue patients this year are being infected by Serotype-3, a variant of the dengue virus which can increase mortality risk, warn doctors.

Surpassing the total number of cases last year, at least 1,430 dengue patients were hospitalised just this month, indicating an alarming rise in the Aedes-borne disease.

The government recently distributed cash support worth Tk 450 crore to around 17.24 lakh day labourers, transport workers, and small traders, as part of its recent announcement of a Tk 3,200 crore relief package for the ultra-poor and destitute. It also increased allocations for OMS in urban areas and for food assistance in rural areas through the district administration offices.

Around one and a half years ago, Dhaka North City Corporation procured three turntable ladders for dousing flames at high-rise buildings.

Mohammad Azgar Ali was excited when he came to Dhupkhola cattle market in Dhaka with his 16 bulls -- hoping to make good profit like last year. But that excitement dissipated as he had to incur loss when selling most of the animals and some remain unsold.

The sale of sacrificial animals gathered pace in the capital’s cattle markets two days before the Eid-ul-Azha yesterday, although traders were charging higher prices compared to last year.

With only two days remaining before Eid-ul-Azha, selling of sacrificial animals is yet to gain momentum at markets in Dhaka.

The government’s condition of maintaining health guidelines for allowing cattle markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The lockdown has had severe consequences for most businesses. Behind closed shutters, jobs were lost and stocks rotted away. But what happens to businesses that are based on the trading of real lives?