November sees only one dengue fatality

By Paneetha Ameresekere

Only one dengue fatality was reported last month (November), the Epidemiology Unit Dengue Head Dr. Arjuna Jayasekara told Ceylon Today yesterday (02).

Meanwhile, for the totality of last month, the Epidemiology Unit reported only 486 new dengue cases, which is the lowest number of cases reported thus far for the year, beating the previous lowest figure of 511 reported in April.

 “The first and main reason was the virtual abandonment of work in construction sites due to the fear caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the other being that people now spend more time at home also because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, people are now spending more time in their gardens, keeping them clean,” Jayasekara said.

This year, thus far, has seen 35 dengue deaths, i.e. in the calendar year to end November, including a total of 29,422 dengue cases in the reference period. Meanwhile, the total number of dengue deaths reported last year (2019) was 156, from 105,049 cases.