Sri Lanka’s Dengue Cases Reach 96,040 With 72 Deaths And 50 High-Risk Areas
August alone produced 10,155 infections. Two districts account for four in every ten cases nationally — and the death toll has already tripled a full year of 2024.
Sri Lanka has recorded 96,040 dengue cases so far in 2026, with 72 deaths, according to the National Dengue Control Unit.
The unit, which is the focal point for the national dengue programme within the Ministry of Health, reports 96,040 cases notified nationwide and 50 Medical Officer of Health areas under intensified surveillance as high-risk zones.
August alone accounted for 10,155 cases.
Where the cases are
The burden is heavily concentrated.
The Western Province has recorded 50,760 cases — more than half the national total. The Southern Province follows with 13,931, the Central Province with 8,788 and Sabaragamuwa with 7,910.
At district level, Gampaha has recorded 20,444 cases and Colombo 19,008. Between them, those two districts account for roughly 41% of every dengue case reported in the country this year. Kandy has 7,043, Kalutara 6,181 and Matara 6,154.
That concentration is not new — the Western Province contains the country's densest population and its commercial capital — but the scale of it shapes where control effort has to go.
How this compares
The year-on-year picture is where the figures become alarming.
In 2024, Sri Lanka recorded almost 50,000 dengue cases for the entire year, with 24 deaths. This year has produced roughly double the cases and three times the deaths by early September, with four months of the year still to run.
On those figures, the current rate sits above the recent baseline — though it remains a small fraction of where it stood a quarter of a century ago, and the absolute numbers involved are small enough that a handful of deaths moves the percentage noticeably.
The trajectory within the outbreak
Reported deaths have not moved in step with cases in recent weeks.
In mid-August the toll stood at 68 with more than 92,000 cases. By late August it had reached 72 with cases approaching 95,000. It remained at 72 in early September with cases at 96,040.
Against the historical record
Sri Lanka has had dengue since it was first serologically confirmed in 1962, with the first documented outbreak in 1965. Large epidemics were recorded in 2002, 2004, 2009, 2017 and 2019.
The largest in the country's history was 2017, when more than 186,000 cases were reported nationally.
This year's 96,040 is a little over half that figure with a third of the year remaining. Whether it approaches 2017 depends substantially on rainfall in the months ahead, since standing water after heavy rain creates breeding conditions for the Aedes mosquito.
What is being done
Fifty Medical Officer of Health areas are under intensified surveillance as high-risk zones.
The control unit describes a programme combining disease, entomological and laboratory surveillance with vector control, outbreak preparedness, risk communication, community engagement and clinical management, supported by real-time web-based surveillance and regular vector monitoring.
Health authorities have repeatedly urged the public to remove standing water around homes and workplaces, which is where the mosquito breeds.