“We’ll be out in the field until the country is dengue free,” he said at a rally organised to raise awareness about dengue prevention in Dhaka’s Farmgate area.
He urged everyone to work together to tackle the dengue situation and criticised BNP’s suggestion to declare a state of emergency.
“They (the BNP) have politicised dengue and floods,” Quader said.
Bangladesh’s overcrowded capital is at the centre of the dengue outbreak. The mosquito-borne viral disease has spread throughout the country. Every day, hundreds of people are being hospitalised with dengue, putting severe strain on the already overwhelmed medical services.
In 24 hours till Friday morning, 1,687 new dengue patients were hospitalised. Since the beginning of the year, hospitals treated 21,235 patients with dengue. Of them, 18,842 were admitted between July 2 and August 2.
Currently, 6,582 patients, including children, are undergoing treatment at hospitals. Although the government says 14 dengue patients have so far died, unofficial estimates suggest the death toll is higher.