Mohammad Kawsar Hossain, 65, a resident of Jhenaidah, has been undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital since Saturday, after he was admitted with dengue.

Kawsar, who came to Dhaka following a cardiac arrest and was admitted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases on Thursday, was referred to the DMCH after contracting dengue.

"I will go back to NICVD after recovering from dengue," said Kawsar.

He said there were no dengue patients in Jhenaidah in previous years, but a growing number of people in their area are contracting the mosquito-borne disease this year.

Eighteen-year-old Mohammad Noman, from Daudkandi in Cumilla, was admitted to DMCH yesterday with symptoms of dengue such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and severe headaches.

"Previously my mother and maternal uncle were diagnosed with dengue and received treatment at home," he said. However, they brought Noman to the hospital due to his critical condition, said his uncle Ruhul Amin.

There has been a decrease in dengue cases this month, with the facility treating half as many patients as the previous month. However, most of the patients are now coming from outside Dhaka, particularly the southern areas of the country, said Safwan Ahmed, a doctor at DMCH.

Meanwhile, the death toll from dengue rose to 1,206 (464 outside Dhaka) this year, with 16 more deaths reported in the last 24 hours till yesterday morning. Of those, 13 were from outside Dhaka.

Besides, 2,495 new patients were hospitalised during the same period.

HM Nazmul Ahsan, associate professor at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, said better treatment and management facilities are required outside Dhaka, as it takes several hours to reach the capital. It's not possible to get enough fluid supply during that time, causing many patients to collapse even before they are admitted to hospitals.

"Such patients have lower chances of survival as they might suffer a decompensated shock, which reduces their chances of recovery by 50 percent."

Stomach aches, breathing difficulties, weakness, bleeding from gums or nose, and vomiting are the signs for which a patient needs to be hospitalised immediately, he continued. "If a patient is not hospitalised within 24 hours, they may reach the dengue shock syndrome stage."