Sri Lanka Records 44,000 Dengue Cases as Weekly Infections Jump 50% and Child Deaths Rise
Updated
Updated · The Island.lk · Jun 20
Sri Lanka Records 44,000 Dengue Cases as Weekly Infections Jump 50% and Child Deaths Rise
3 articles · Updated · The Island.lk · Jun 20
Summary
More than 44,000 dengue cases have been recorded in Sri Lanka this year, with the heaviest burden in the Western, Southern and Central provinces and a troubling rise in child deaths.
Weekly case counts are climbing by nearly 50%, straining hospitals as changing weather patterns, urban density and the spread of both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus accelerate transmission.
The report says standard controls—house inspections, stagnant-water cleanup and thermal fogging—are losing effectiveness because mosquitoes breed in hidden sites, rest indoors and are developing resistance to pyrethroid sprays.
It urges Sri Lanka to shift toward targeted larvicides such as Bti, expand Wolbachia mosquito releases and build digital ovitrap surveillance, citing trials in Indonesia that cut dengue incidence 77% and hospitalizations 86%.