School children account for nearly quarter of Sri Lanka's dengue patients: official

COLOMBO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- About 25 percent of Sri Lanka's dengue patients are school children, a health official said on Sunday.

Nalin Ariyaratne, the director of the National Dengue Control Unit, said there are over 42,000 dengue cases reported so far this year in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the media a day before Sri Lankan schools open for a new academic term, he said the spread of dengue at the school level must be minimized.

He said around 50 percent of cases have been reported from the Western Province, the most populous area in Sri Lanka and epidemiologists worry that 2023 will see a large dengue outbreak.

Sri Lanka registered over 76,000 dengue cases in 2022, according to official data.