The number of dengue cases reported daily in Sri Lanka has dropped by 80%, the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) said on Friday.
Acting Director of the NDCU, Dr. Kapila Kannangara, attributed the reduction mainly to work to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and to fumigation programmes carried out in recent months.
A special discussion reviewing the dengue control programmes run over that period is scheduled to be chaired by Presidential Secretary Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Dr. Kannangara said. NewsFirst, which reported the figures, did not give a date for the meeting.
The numbers behind the claim
The NDCU did not publish a baseline alongside the 80% figure. Health officials said earlier this month that daily case numbers had fallen from roughly 1,300 to between 350 and 400 following the same control measures — a decline of about 73% on those figures.
A total of 7,777 dengue cases were recorded across the island in the first 19 days of August. That is well below July, which remains the worst month of the year with 29,964 infections. Seventy-one dengue-related deaths have been reported so far in 2026, against a cumulative caseload that passed 93,000 on Thursday.
The improvement is measured against an exceptionally heavy year rather than a normal one. Monthly totals earlier in 2026 ran between roughly 5,700 and 8,600 before climbing steeply in June and July.
Two things happening at once
A pilot project to raise community participation in dengue control launches on Friday in selected Medical Officer of Health divisions in the Colombo District. The Health Ministry said it will test new ways of encouraging behavioural change among the public, and will run surveys intended to make existing control programmes more effective.
The same day, Public Health Inspectors — who carry out most of the routine larval surveys and premises inspections that underpin the control effort the NDCU is crediting — reported sick island-wide in a token strike over a transfer at the airport health office, having withdrawn from all dengue control duties from Thursday.
Neither the NDCU’s statement nor NewsFirst’s report addressed what effect the withdrawal may have on the trend.
