Dengue liekly to rise in Sri Lanka as mosquito eradication initiative disrupted-Xinhua

Dengue liekly to rise in Sri Lanka as mosquito eradication initiative disrupted

Source: Xinhua| 2022-05-02 18:33:41|Editor: huaxia

COLOMBO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is running out of chemicals that are used to control the dengue mosquito population, said the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) on Monday.

The NDCU identified places including Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Galle, Matara, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Puttalam and Ratnapura as the areas that are at high risk for dengue.

The pesticides they use to destroy mosquito colonies are low in stock, said NDCU Director Sudath Samaraweera.

The Health Ministry has been informed about this and will try to provide adequate stocks as soon as possible, Samaraweera said.

Samaraweera said that there is a 22.6 percent increase in reported dengue cases in the last week of April, compared to the third week.

Meanwhile, head of the Public Health Inspectors Union (PHIU) Upul Rohana told the media that they have run out of chemicals used to control mosquitoes.

Rohana said they are also facing shortages in materials needed to carry out full blood count tests to identify dengue patients.

He said that they have detected 17,123 dengue cases in the first three months of 2022, which is nearly half of the total cases reported in 2021.

The PHIU head said the number of dengue infections and fatalities will increase in the near future as dengue eradication and testing programs are disrupted.

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