An additional 882 cases and six deaths were reported as of November 2, bringing the death toll to 494.

This is the highest-ever annual dengue death toll in Bangladesh, with 1,705 fatalities reported. 

The figures indicate a rise compared to 281 deaths in 2022 and 179 in 2019.

Meanwhile, local reports indicate that Bangladeshi health authorities are intensifying mosquito control efforts. Officials are conducting anti-larval operations and urging people to clear stagnant water to prevent mosquito breeding.

Dengue fever is caused by a virus transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. Symptoms include high fever, severe body pain, vomiting, and skin rashes.

The Department of Health reported 881 deaths linked to dengue during this time. The fatality rate is 0.26%, which is lower than the 0.34% recorded last year.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herboza urged people to be alert, especially after six typhoons hit the country in October and November.

Dengue is common in the Philippines and usually increases during the rainy season. Recent rainfall and flooding have led to increased cases.

Meanwhile, health officials are pushing for preventive measures to control the spread.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral infection that can lead to a range of symptoms, including high fever, severe joint and muscle pain, bleeding, and even death in severe cases.

It is caused by the dengue virus, which is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Aedes mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

In the 24 hours leading up to 8:00 a.m. on October 20, the DGHS reported 1,298 new cases of dengue, raising the total number of cases in October to 18,942.

Another six deaths were confirmed on the same day, further escalating concerns about the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, as reported by Xinhua . The surge in fatalities began in September, which saw 80 deaths, compared to 27 in August, 12 in July, and eight in June.

To combat the spread of dengue, Bangladeshi health authorities have intensified mosquito control measures and are conducting anti-larval operations to prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, the primary carriers of the virus.

The annual toll for dengue-related deaths in Bangladesh reached 1,705 in 2023, marking the highest number ever recorded. This is a sharp rise compared to 281 deaths in 2022 and 179 in 2019.

Dengue fever is transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes and typically results in symptoms such as headache, high fever, severe muscle and joint pain, vomiting, rash, and swollen glands. The disease poses a serious health risk, especially during peak monsoon seasons when mosquito populations are at their highest.

Health experts are urging the public to remain vigilant and take preventive measures to protect against mosquito bites, including using insect repellents and eliminating standing water, which serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The nation declared a red alert on Friday, May 24, after some 12 deaths from dengue fever were recorded. According to Edgar Santos, director of Epidemiology and Risk Management of the Ministry of Health, there is an average of a thousand cases per epidemiological week in Guatemala.

In a report filed by Prensa Libre , 36% of the dengue cases recorded so far in 2024 are among the school-age population, between 5 and 14 years old.

Analysis

According to Reliefweb , the countries in the global south with the highest numbers of reported cases include Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.

It adds that as of mid-May 2024, the Americas region has reported over 8.1 million suspected dengue cases, representing a 3.3-fold increase compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, the region has experienced over 3,600 dengue-related deaths.

Mexico has reported over 65,000 dengue cases, Honduras over 20,000, and Panama over 5,800, all reflecting increases of between 2.5 and nearly six times the number of cases reported during the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, countries and territories in the Caribbean have reported over 21,000 cases, representing a 5.7-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

WHO explains that dengue , also known as break-bone fever, is a viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes. It is more prevalent in tropical and subtropical climates. Most people infected with dengue do not exhibit symptoms. However, for those who do, the most common symptoms include high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola has declared a state of emergency in response to heavy rainfall affecting over 100 districts and 17 regions across the country. Prime Minister Otárola said that this decree is essential to support and coordinate efforts with local and regional authorities in mitigating the severe consequences of the ongoing weather events, reports local media El Comercio .

Declaration of health emergency due to dengue

Head of the Council of Ministers Alberto Otárola Peñaranda has announced the Executive's decision to declare a health emergency in 20 regions across the country in response to the alarming rise in dengue cases nationwide where 672 cases and two fatalities have been reported. Nationally, the number of dengue cases has increased to 24,981 in 2024 of which 28 have died, local media Correo Peru reported.

National Board of Justice

The National Board of Justice (JNJ) members are facing imminent removal from their positions as the Permanent Commission has approved the final report of the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations. The report recommends charging these magistrates and disqualifying them from holding public office for a decade, reports local media Gestion . Among those implicated are Imelda Tumialán, Aldo Vásquez, María Zavala, Inés Tello, Guillermo Thornberry, Antonio de la Haza, and José Ávila, who resigned following revelations of his connections with former Public Ministry advisor Jaime Villanueva.

UK-Peru partnership

Vice-Chancellor Ignacio Higueras Hare and UK Ambassador to Peru Gavin Cook presided over the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Chevening scholarship program. Held at the Torre Tagle Palace in Peru, Higueras said the program has been a fundamental element of cooperation between the two nations. He noted that 280 Peruvian scholars have completed their studies in the UK through Chevening, with 33 of them later joining the Republic's Diplomatic Service. Higueras praised the program for its direct positive impact on Peru's economic and social development, local media El Peruano reported.

Educative platforms

Peruvian entrepreneurs have created online platforms designed for schoolchildren and pre-university students. Backed by the Ministry of Production's "Produce, with your to school" campaign, the six educational projects offer children and adolescents an innovative learning experience in foreign languages, technology, financial education, and strengthening their emotional development, reports local media El Peruano .

Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Juan Carlos Mathews has reported the rapid recovery in the tourism sector of Cajamarca, a region in the northern highlands of the Latin American nation, surpassing pre-pandemic figures in 2023. According to local media El Peruano , the Minister said that between January and November of 2023, the Cajamarca airport received 289,000 people, 39.4% higher than in 2019.  “Cajamarca is achieving a faster level of tourism recovery than many other regions in the country. This is revealed, for example, in the arrival of passengers at its airport, or, to touch on recent data, in the arrival of more than 70 thousand tourists, both national and foreign, to Carnival 2024,” Carlos Mathews is quoted by El Peruano.

Care spaces for dengue fever

The Emergency Hospital of Villa El Salvador (HEVES) in Peru has increased temporary care spaces for dengue patients, with specialists training staff in early detection, sample collection, and referral to the hospital, Peruvian state news agency Andina reports. In 2024, 25 dengue cases have been treated at the HEVES, including an elderly female patient who died due to severe complications with a chronic illness, Andina reported.

Vaccination of children against measles

The Ministry of Health in Peru has urged parents to vaccinate their children against measles following two confirmed cases in the nation’s capital, Lima. According to Andina , the Vice Minister of Public Health Ricardo Peña said that the Latin American nation has a stock of vaccines, including 1.2 million doses for children under 5. Andina quotes the Vice Minister saying, “Rapid response teams have been deployed to track affected individuals and vaccination brigades are mobilizing to create a blockade around the identified cases.”

Housing for disaster victims

Peru’s Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation (MVCS) has provided a Housing Leasing Bond for Emergencies (BAE) to families affected by Cyclone Yaku, an unusual low-pressure system in the far Southeastern Pacific that impacted Ecuador and northern Peru and El Niño Costero also called the coastal El Niño in 2023. According to El Peruano , the MVCS and local governments collaborated to enable 346 families affected by these disasters from 12 provinces and 50 districts in Cajamarca to submit documentation for subsidy collection. 43 families affected by collapsed homes have made the first payment of 500 Peruvian sol ($132.08) for up to two years to rent a safe living space, El Peruano reports.

Diplomatic mission abroad

Peruvian Vice Minister Jorge Chaparro presided over a farewell ceremony for military personnel on a diplomatic mission, highlighting the deployment of female personnel in the diplomatic mission who were sent to Argentina and India respectively, the state news agency reports. “You will be part of the network of 118 members who are deployed in 22 countries. This network constitutes a powerful tool to build friendly relations with the Armed Forces of the countries to which they have been assigned,” Chaparro is quoted by Andina.

Folha de São Paulo reports that Brazil’s Ministry of Health announced that a dengue vaccine will be a part of its public health system (SUS) from February 2024. However, due to limited supply, this vaccine will not be used on a large scale initially but will focus on priority regions throughout the country. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , during the first half of 2023, the highest number of dengue cases in the Americas was observed in Brazil, with 2,376,522 cases, a 13% increase compared to the same period of 2022. Brazil also led the region in severe cases, with 1,249. In the same period, a total of 769 deaths were reported by the WHO.

How Brazil welcomes the New Year and what it says about its diversity

As the year ends, The Brazilian Report shows how the largest country in Latin America has combined traditions from different corners of the world to create a unique New Year’s Eve experience, second only to Carnival. The name of the party itself, Réveillon, is a nod to French traditional parties that ran until the next morning. The outfit for the party is a tribute to Afro-Brazilian groups Candomblé and Umbanda, who celebrated the goddess of water and her purity by wearing all-white clothes. Some will throw objects into the sea as tribute, a tradition that also stems from Afro-Caribbean religions. Italy also makes an appearance in Brazil’s celebration, as millions will eat lentils, hoping this brings health and prosperity.

FIFA threatens to suspend Brazil

According to ESPN , FIFA warned Brazil on Sunday that it could suspend its football federation from international competitions if there is an election of the president of its football federation (CBF) in January. This would include the suspension of all of Brazil’s national teams, in a year when Copa América takes place, and clubs. A Rio de Janeiro court removed the CBF President, Ednaldo Rodrigues, due to irregularities in his election last year. The ruling also named the head of the country’s top sports court, José Perdiz, as an intervener to organize new elections, something that FIFA condemned, as it considers the intervention to be undue. The main governing body in global football will form a commission to discuss the matter on January 8 and urges Brazilian authorities not to name anyone to substitute Rodrigues before the mission takes place.

Brazil ends 2023 with cheaper food 

According to O Globo , there will be a reduction in food prices by the end of the year, a situation Brazil has not experienced since 2017. This is because of record harvests, a drop in commodity prices, and a global slowing down of inflation. The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) shows a 2.4% decrease in prices of food for Brazilian families. Beef is now 9.4% cheaper than last year, and poultry and eggs are 6.8% cheaper. However, economist Roberto Cunha explains that despite the reduction, prices will continue to be higher than pre-pandemic levels, due to increases of 18.88% in 2020, 7.99% in 2021, and 13.08% in 2022. 

Southern Brazil got colder than Patagonia

In the middle of austral summer, O Globo reports that some regions in Brazil are registering lower temperatures than those in Patagonia, in the extreme south of Argentina, which reached 17ºC. MetSul, Brazil’s Meteorology Agency, registered 4.7ºC in São Joaquim, in Santa Catarina. In Rio Grande do Sul, thermometers also registered temperatures lower than 5ºC. This unusual summer weather has caused the formation of isolated frost in lowlands throughout Brazil’s south. These cold fronts have hit Brazil only one month after storms and flooding wreaked havoc in Santa Catarina do Sul.

Costa Rica's Supreme Election Court (TSE) has announced a pilot plan for an electronic voting system in 28 cantons for the Latin American nation’s 2024 Municipal Elections.  The technology will be applied to 499 polling stations, less than 10% of the total polling stations across the nation. The pilot plan will be implemented in 9 cantons in the San José province. The total cost of the system is estimated to be $1.9 million, local media Diaro Extra reported. According to the TSE, the system will not record voters’ choices or the time the choices were made.

Tonnes of marijuana seized on the Pacific

Costa Rican Coast Guard officers seized over a ton of marijuana in the Costa Rican Pacific, a joint effort with the US. The drug shipment, believed to be transported by Costa Ricans, was found in a small fishing boat without a license plate, local media Teletica reported. “There are 1.3 tons of marijuana seized in an international operation, where the United States alerts our coast guard. On the high seas, the drugs were being transferred from a fast ship to a panga that was then seized when it touched the coast, in the Boca Chica sector, in Puerto Cortés de Osa,” Costa Rica Minster of Security Mario Zamora is quoted by Teletica. The Coast Guard is still searching for the drug traffickers who fled through the mountains. In 2023, 30 tons of drugs have been seized, including 15 tons of marijuana and 15 tons of cocaine, Teletica reports.

Increase in COVID-19 infections

The Costa Rica Ministry of Health has reported a 14.5% increase in COVID-19 infections in the Latin nation during November 2023. The Health Surveillance Directorate of the Health Ministry reported that about 150 patients were notified between November 27 to December 3. The COVID-19 variant that causes the most infections is the XBB.1.5 of omicron, local media Crhoy reported

Rise in dengue cases

The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) has reported 13 dengue hospitalisations and 26,487 new diagnoses in the last week. The hospitalised group were people between the ages of 1 to 78 with eight of them being minors, Teletica reported. The CCSS warned all Costa Ricans to protect themselves during the dry season and to employ sanitary measures like regular cleaning of boats, and black plastics and emptying containers used for water storage at homes.

Ransomware attacks

Costa Rica has been ranked as the second nation in Central America with the most cases of ransomware attacks according to a report by cybersecurity company Kaspersky . The Latin American nation recorded 5,100 attempted attacks between June 2022 to July 2023 “The online scams we analyzed in this section of the study demonstrate that victims often look for free alternatives to avoid paying for a service, which can lead to the installation of malware on their devices. Unfortunately, in Latin America, the culture of free often leads to piracy, which puts users at risk. Avoiding this problem requires the adoption of safe practices and the use of official software and programs,” said Fabio Assolini, director of the Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team for Latin America in a statement.

Guatemalan prosecutors announced on Friday, December 8, that their investigations concluded that the elections won by Bernardo Arévalo were 'null and void,' citing irregularities in the vote counting process. The country's tribunal says results are 'unalterable,’ and critics condemn the situation as an "attempted coup." The President-elect is set to take office on January 14.

The EU “ready to adopt restrictive measures”

The European Union announced possible “restrictive measures against those responsible”, due to the political situation in Guatemala.

Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, tweeted : "EU condemns attempts to nullify Guatemala election, based on spurious fraud allegations: an attempted coup d’etat that will impact EU-Guatemala relations. We have decided in principle to adopt a framework allowing for targeted restrictive measures against those responsible”. 

Arévalo receives support from countries in the region, the West and the UN

Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panamá, and the Dominican Republic, members of the Alliance for Development in Democracy, expressed "deep concern" about the current political situation in Guatemala in a joint statement. They explained that recent actions "jeopardize the independence of powers and the sovereign will of the Guatemalan people." The U.S. and other Western countries have also expressed their support for Arévalo, stating that the investigations are a coordinated effort to undermine him and democracy in Guatemala. The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, also condemned "persistent and systematic" attempts to undermine Guatemala’s elections and called for the results to be respected.

OAS to meet this Tuesday

The Organization of American States (OAS) has called for a meeting on Tuesday, December 12, to discuss the situation in Guatemala for the seventh time since Bernardo Arévalo was elected president in August 2023, as reported by Prensa Libre .

Dengue epidemic intensifies

The dengue epidemic persists in Guatemala, with the country now surpassing 64,000 cases and nearing a hundred deaths from the disease, reports Prensa Libre . The rainfall expected in December could worsen the situation. Dr. Ricardo Menéndez, head of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Roosevelt Hospital, said that 10% of the cases they are treating involve children. In previous years by this season, the epidemic had already subsided. According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, as of November 25, there were 64,316 cases, marking an increase of 13,430 compared to the entire year of 2019, the last year with a spike in cases. When comparing the impact of dengue between 2022 and 2023, the increase is six times greater.

In August, Chad's health ministry declared an outbreak with 1,342 suspected cases, 41 confirmed in the laboratory, and one death recorded, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

With dengue fever in Chad, the likelihood of countries including Niger, Mali, and Chad, recording dengue cases is high mainly because these countries all host suitable mosquito vectors and share the same tropical climate with seasonal heavy rains and floods.

Unlike some African countries, dengue fever is new to Chad. This then raises concerns about Chad’s preparedness and response capacities to the fever, WHO added.

According to reports from international media Reuters , the Sudanese doctors' union in September said 3,398 cases of dengue fever were recorded across al-Qadarif, Red Sea, North Kordofan, and Khartoum states between mid-April and mid-September in only.

Meanwhile, most of the hospitals in Sudan are out of service because of the current war crisis.

Ethiopia is also experiencing an outbreak of the dengue fever. As of 10 May 2023, it had recorded a total of 1,638 suspected and confirmed cases and nine associated deaths.

Sao Tome and Principe recorded a total of 1,210 cases and 11 deaths between April 15 and April 30, 2023, the Weekly Bulletin on Outbreaks and Other Emergencies by WHO reported.

According to the most recent report published by Africa CDC , dengue cases have been recorded in Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe, Cape Verde Senegal, and Sudan.

The disease would become a major threat in new parts of Africa as warmer temperatures create the conditions for the mosquitoes carrying the infection to spread , the World Health Organization warned in October, Reuters reported.

Dengue fever is driven largely by climate change, the increased movement of people, and urbanization. It is primarily transmitted to humans through the bites of infected Aedes species mosquitoes . Humans are the main carriers of the virus and sy mptoms include fever, muscle pain, nausea, and rashes. If misdiagnosed or not treated early, it may lead to death.