Dengue cases in Sri Lanka have fallen by approximately 18% compared with the previous week, the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) said on Sunday, the clearest sign yet that the year’s outbreak is losing momentum.
The cumulative national count now stands at 85,364 cases for 2026. The death toll remains at 62, unchanged from the figure recorded at the end of July.
Gampaha, Colombo and Kandy districts continue to report the highest number of cases.
A turn in the trajectory
The weekly decline marks a shift in an outbreak that had climbed steadily through the middle of the year. Case totals stood at roughly 76,000 in late July before passing 84,700 with 62 deaths by the end of the month, making July the worst month of 2026.
The NDCU had already flagged early signs of a slowdown, reporting falling case numbers in the Colombo, Gampaha, Ratnapura, Galle and Matara districts along with a reduction in mosquito larva density. Sunday’s figure puts a national number on that trend for the first time.
The appearance of Kandy among the three worst-affected districts is a change from earlier in the outbreak, when Gampaha and Colombo led the count and the Western and Southern provinces together accounted for the bulk of infections.
The district breakdown
Ada Derana, reporting the same NDCU release, put the running total at about 86,000 cases — a figure that reconciles with the 85,364 count once the 646 infections recorded in the first two days of August are added.
July was the outbreak’s worst month by a wide margin, with 29,980 infections recorded in that month alone. Gampaha District leads the country with 18,249 cases so far this year, followed by Colombo with 17,048.
The NDCU also reported that 137 Medical Officer of Health divisions nationwide remain classified as high-risk dengue zones.
A separate case reported from Wadduwa this week underlines the risk the disease carries in pregnancy: a 34-year-old woman died along with her unborn child two days before a scheduled caesarean, in a death her family attributes to dengue. An open verdict was recorded.
Exam centres targeted
The NDCU also said instructions have been issued to run mosquito eradication programmes at schools being used as examination centres, ahead of the Grade 5 Scholarship and G.C.E. Advanced Level examinations.
The timing is deliberate. The Grade 5 Scholarship examination is scheduled for August 9 at 2,723 centres, and the A/L examination runs from August 10 to September 5 at 2,532 centres — placing several hundred thousand candidates in school buildings across the country within days of each other.
Cleaning campaigns at schools have been a recurring element of the response this year, after surveys found high mosquito larvae densities on school premises.
Source: NewsFirst.
Update (August 3): total reaches 86,386
The National Dengue Control Unit put the national total at 86,386 cases on Monday, with the death toll unchanged at 62 and a case fatality rate of 0.07%, Ada Derana reported.
The two outlets covering Monday’s release give different August subtotals. Ada Derana said 1,034 cases had been recorded in the first few days of August; NewsFirst, reporting the same release, said 646 cases were reported in the first two days of the month — the figure carried in Sunday’s count. The gap is consistent with Ada Derana’s number running a day further forward.
Monday’s data also slightly revises the monthly series: July is now given as 29,978 cases rather than 29,980, still by far the worst month of the year, followed by 21,533 in June and 8,590 in May.
The district table has shifted only marginally. Gampaha remains the worst affected with 18,321 cases, or 21.21% of the national total, followed by Colombo on 17,101, Kandy on 6,032, Matara on 5,848 and Kalutara on 5,633. Mullaitivu has the fewest, with 55 cases so far this year.
By province, the Western Province alone accounts for 45,675 cases — 52.87% of the country’s dengue burden. The Southern Province follows with 12,969 cases (15.01%) and the Central Province with 7,567. The count of high-risk Medical Officer of Health divisions is unchanged at 137.
Acting NDCU Director Dr. Kapila Kannangara said Gampaha and Colombo continue to report the highest case numbers and that vector control programmes are running at Grama Niladhari division level nationwide. Deputy Minister of Education Madhura Seneviratne said mosquito control is being carried out in and around school premises ahead of the coming examinations.
