Dengue continues to gallop

By Dilanthi Jayamanne

 The number of dengue cases from January to the beginning of the second week of September topped 28,950, whereas, during the whole of last year there had been only 28,473 cases.

Sources said that the highest number of cases were reported from the Western province (48.9 percent) and 51.1 percent was reported from remaining parts of the country. The number dengue cases in the Colombo District, from the beginning of the year to date, was over 6,770, while Gampaha and Kalutara had reported 5,419 and 1,972 cases, respectively, within the same period.

The Sabaragamuwa province too has had a high number of cases reported with Ratnapura district (2,702) and Kegalle district (2,091). The other notable dengue affected district were Galle (1,148), Kandy (1,790), Matara (1, 185) and Kurunegala (1, 636).

"It’s still difficult to say if there had been an increase as it is only the beginning of the month. The total number of cases reported last month was 4,069, up from 2,106 reported in August last year. The total number of dengue cases from January to December last year were 28, 473," sources said.

They said however that the antagonism shown towards inspecting teams during the dengue control programmes, carried out by the Health Ministry and the lukewarm attitude of responsible health officials in the Ministry, had aggravated the situation.

The Chief of the Dengue Control Programme was not available for comment.

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