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NDCU fears rise in dengue cases
View(s):The lifting of pandemic restrictions and the incessant rains in the past two weeks can increase the number of dengue patients, the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) has warned .
Its Community Physician Shilanthi Seneviratne expressed fears that the cases would increase as the monsoon rains could create ideal breeding places for dengue mosquitoes, leading to a peak in cases in the period between January and March next year.
Noting that the covid lockdown this year had helped reduce the number of dengue cases, she said reopening of offices and shops following the relaxation of covid restrictions could exasperate the situation.
Epidemiology Unit statistics showed that compared to last year, the number of dengue cases have halved this year. This year up to November 17, some 16,175 persons had so far contracted the disease. The figure for 2020 was more than 31,000.
In 2019, a record number of 105,049 sought treatment for dengue.
The number of deaths also has reduced drastically this year with only 11 people dying of the disease.
In 2020, 35 people died of dengue and in 2019, the death toll was 150.
With the aim of keeping the cases low, the NDCU has sent out a warning urging people to keep their premises and surrounding clean.
In the last few weeks, the Lady Ridgeway hospital in Colombo has reported an increase in the number of children being admitted due to dengue fever, according to Hospital Director G. Wijesooriya.
Parents suspect that their children contracted the disease in their schools which were opened recently after remaining closed for more than seven months. They say that instead of cleaning up the schools, principals and teachers were taking part in protests demanding a salary revision.
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