Nearly 8,000 dengue cases reported in two months

Chaminda Perera

Sri Lanka has reported 8,000 dengue cases within the first two months of this year and the highest number of cases were reported from the Jaffna district.

This is an increase of 2,227 dengue cases reported during the corresponding period last year.

An Epidemiological Department official told the Daily News that 46 deaths were reported in hospitals around the country due to dengue epidemic and this trend needs to be arrested by making the public aware on the epidemic. He said the dengue epidemic is now spreading from urban areas to villages and this has caused an increase in the death toll. “We have reported dengue cases mainly from Colombo, Galle, Kandy and Gampaha and this situation has now changed.

He added that they have reported dengue cases from rural villages and the rural folk should effectively be educated over the disease, if we are to completely eradicate this epidemic.

He appealed to the public to keep their environment clean and remove the mosquito breeding places to curb the dengue menace.