DHAKA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh witnessed a significant spike in dengue cases so far in July, with over 8,000 cases and 27 deaths.

Four new death cases were reported on Wednesday, taking the toll to 69 so far this year, according to the Ministry of Health.

A total of 319 cases were reported in the past 24 hours till 8:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

In July, 8,049 more dengue cases were recorded after 5,951 in June. The number of dengue cases has surged to 18,345 so far this year.

The June-September monsoon period is the season of dengue fever in Bangladesh. ■