Hospitals overwhelmed as Sri Lanka dengue toll nears 300

• Eastern Eye Staff
• 24 July, 2017

By: Eastern Eye Staff

Sri Lanka announced Monday (25) it was intensifying its war on dengue fever, with schools to shut across the island to help curb the unprecedented outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus that has claimed nearly 300 lives. The Red Cross also announced it was scaling up its emergency response to the country’s worst-ever outbreak of the disease as the number of dengue cases topped 100,000. That figure is nearly double the previous year, with doctors warning hospitals were beyond capacity as medics struggled to treat a new strain of the disease. The education ministry said schools would shut from Friday for four days…

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