Following the death of two patients in hospital and 13 others being warded, the people of Vavuniya were alarmed that dengue was fast reaching epidemic proportions, but at the same time were disappointed that health authorities were not taking any special measures to curb the disease.

A three-year-old child, Shivamoorthy Kaushikan, died in the Vavuniya Hospital on Wednesday and R. K. Gamage, A Sub Inspector of Police attached to the Vavuniya Police died in the ambulance on Tuesday while being transferred to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital from Vavuniya.

Around 1,200 people seek treatment for fever from the Vavuniya Hospital every day and a majority of them are internally displaced persons from the welfare centres.