Sri Lanka has decided to deploy the army to stop the rapid spread of the mosquito-borne disease dengue. On Tuesday (June 23), the office of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said a special unit of army, navy and air force members would be formed for dengue control, and that the unit would work to identify and destroy mosquito breeding sites.
According to government figures, about 50,000 people have been affected by dengue in Sri Lanka this year and 29 have died. A nationwide cleanliness drive will also begin from Wednesday to bring the situation under control, it was said.
The head of the National Dengue Control Unit, Kapila Kannangara, warned that if infections continued to rise, hospitals could come under severe pressure and the situation could take as dire a form as in 2017.
The president’s office also said strict legal action would be taken against any individuals or institutions that created mosquito breeding sites.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report