Sri Lanka battles dengue surge with 44,000 cases this year
Hospitals are seeing increased admissions as dengue cases continue to climb nationwide
Dengue cases has reportedly reached to an alarming level in Sri Lanka as the South Asian country after 44,000 cases reported this year.
The South Asian country is currently battling with one of its most severe outbreaks in recent years.
As reported, health authorities have confirmed more than 44,000 cases of dengue fever and 28 deaths across the country since the beginning of the year.
Moreover the situation has intensified dramatically in recent weeks, with the number of infections nearly doubling from 5,651 in April to 10,638 in the first two weeks of June alone.
As per authorities Dengue is common during Sri Lanka's monsoon season, but unplanned urbanisation coupled with damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah, which hit the island nation in late November, has worsened the outbreak this year.
Data from the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) showed, the number of dengue cases nearly doubled from 5,651 in April to 10,638 in the first two weeks of June.
"We noticed this increase after the cyclone," Dr. Prashila Samaraweera, consultant community physician and NDCU spokesperson, told Reuters.
"A lot of debris was in our environment, so we noticed a lot of mosquito breeding places, and our entomological indices were high from that time."
With 51,000 cases recorded in the whole of last year, the rate of infections has risen sharply, Dr. Samaraweera said. Infections are likely to increase for at least two more weeks before tapering off, she added.
New challenge for health facilities amid Dengue outbreak:
Health officials believe dengue surge could put health facilities Under Severe strain as hospitals are seeing increased admissions as dengue cases continue to climb nationwide.
Sri Lanka's health minister Nalinda Jayatissa also warned on Thursday, a further uptick in patient numbers could put public hospitals under severe strain.
More than half the mosquito borne cases are from the western region of the country, including 9,429 cases from commercial capital Colombo. Eight other districts have reported more than 2,000 patients since the start of the year.
Notably, the 28 deaths include five children.
Patient numbers for this year could end up matching the last major outbreak in 2019, authorities have warned, when Sri Lanka recorded over 105,000 dengue patients.
Precautionary clean-up operations are being carried out in schools, homes, construction sites, and public buildings as part of a special programme launched by Sri Lanka’s health authorities and other public officials, running until next Monday.
