Sri Lanka is facing its worst dengue outbreak in nearly a decade, with 53 confirmed deaths and 76,044 infections recorded since January, as the government calls on the military to help public health workers manage a crisis that is nearing the scale of a 2017 outbreak that surpassed 100,000 cases.
Virulent strain driving surge
The surge is being driven largely by the DENV-2 strain, which health officials say accounts for about 75% of current cases and spreads faster than other variants. Kapila Kannangara, acting director general of the National Dengue Control Unit, said public health workers were "stretched to their limit," adding that "the number of patients is high, and the severity of the cases is high."
Hospitals under severe pressure
More than 18,000 cases were logged in the first two weeks of July alone. June's total of 21,537 infections was more than double May's figure, prompting hospitals to open additional beds, convert wards and extend the working hours of medical staff. In Negombo, a coastal town roughly 35 kilometres north of Colombo and one of the worst-hit areas, the district general hospital treated nearly 1,800 patients in under two months since June, compared to about 1,050 over the same period in 2025.
Consultant Lalindra Dias, based at that hospital, described the situation as "challenging for the doctors because it's a rapid increase in patients," saying staff were dealing with a sudden and large influx at short notice. He said cases were expected to level off before falling in August, but warned that the unusual pattern this year made predictions unreliable. "So we cannot exactly say when it will stop, by the end of July. Sometimes it will be a little longer than that."
To ease the burden on hospitals, doctors have been advising patients with mild symptoms to recover at home. Shalini Aloka Perera, 23, was among those turned away from inpatient care. "The doctor asked me to stay at home because my platelet count had not fallen too much," she said. "Then I did my treatment at home because there are too many patients in the hospitals."
Military and drones join the response
The Sri Lankan Air Force has deployed drones to identify rooftop pools of stagnant water left by monsoon rains, a key breeding ground for dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Military and police personnel are also inspecting homes, construction sites, schools and religious institutions as part of a government cleanup drive. Health authorities said nearly 11,000 breeding sites were cleared this month, with fines issued to more than 4,000 premises.
The outbreak has come in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, which struck in late November and caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage to infrastructure and health facilities, according to the World Bank. Officials expect infections to ease as the monsoon weakens in August but caution that a second rainy season beginning in November could trigger a fresh wave.
Authorities are also weighing the introduction of a dengue vaccine, though experts have cautioned that its benefits may be limited given the complexity of the virus and the multiple strains currently circulating.
