The country yesterday recorded the second-highest daily fatalities with 20 more deaths as a month-wise comparison shows a spike in the death toll.

Of the recorded 20 deaths yesterday, 11 were reported in the capital.

According to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) data, at least 98 people died in the first week of September. The figure was 76 in the first week of August.  However, the hospitalisation numbers have come down marginally. The number of hospitalisations was 16903 and 17,651 respectively.

With yesterday, deaths and cases, the total number of deaths and cases this year jumped to 691 and 1,40,711 respectively. Among the deaths and cases, August alone had 342 deaths and 71,976 cases.

Amid this alarming situation, experts yesterday urged authorities concerned to take necessary steps to kill adult mosquitoes to control the situation.

GM Saifur Rahman, an entomologist of the National University, said, following the World Health Organisation guidelines, killing adulticide is no less important than killing larvae.

Authorities concerned will have to identify the clusters of the infected mosquitoes and will have to continue fogging every alternate day until the reproductive chain of the Aedes mosquitoes is broken.

Echoing Saifur, entomologist of Jahangirnar University Kabirul Bashar said to control the situation, it is very important to kill adult mosquitoes even outside Dhaka.

Urging the government to strengthen and activate all the local government bodies from Union Parishad to the district level to control Aedes mosquitoes, Bashar said all these bodies will have to be provided with the necessary funds, manpower and training.

During a visit to two hospitals -- Shishu hospital and Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital on Wednesday, many residents outside Dhaka blamed poor mosquito control activities at their places for their or their family members' dengue infection.

One-year-old Affan took treatment at a private hospital in Sirajganj before coming to the Shishu hospital.

His father Rejaul Karim said there is no activity in the union parishad level though huge numbers of mosquitoes are there.

Md Hossain, father of two-year-old dengue patient Hafsa Moni, from Hossaindi in Munshiganj echoed him.

"My daughter was diagnosed dengue positive and was admitted to Shishu Hospital on August 18 and recovered on August 23. However, she was diagnosed with dengue again and admitted to the hospital on September 3," he said.

A nurse of the hospital said they are getting many patients who are coming from outside Dhaka as dengue control measures outside Dhaka, especially at the union parishad level, are almost nonexistent.

Julia Haque, wife of Ainal Haque, 42, a resident of Ganda, Savar who is undergoing treatment at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital said he never saw spraying insecticide in the Savar region.

Ainal said he was extremely cautious about catching dengue fever and took necessary steps so that Aedes larvae could not be bred around his house, but couldn't prevent infection.

He alleged that the authorities in his area did nothing to curb the mosquitos.