Sri Lanka deploys air force drones to combat worst dengue outbreak in a decade

Sri Lanka is fighting the worst dengue outbreak it has seen in nearly a decade, and the scale of the crisis has forced the government to call in the military. Since January, the island nation has recorded 76,044 infections and 53 deaths. The numbers are climbing fast, driven by a particularly aggressive strain of the virus called DENV-2, which accounts for roughly three-quarters of all cases. If the trajectory continues, the country will soon surpass the 100,000 infections recorded during the devastating 2017 outbreak.

The response has become a whole-of-government effort. Air force drones now patrol rooftops across the country, hunting for pools of stagnant water where mosquitoes breed after monsoon rains. Military and police officers have fanned out to inspect homes, schools, building sites, and other locations where standing water collects. In a single month, authorities cleared nearly 11,000 breeding sites and issued fines to more than 4,000 properties where mosquitoes were found breeding. The campaign reflects the desperation of a public health system pushed to its breaking point.

Negombo, a city about 35 kilometers north of Colombo, has become one of the outbreak's epicenters. At the District General Hospital there, consultant Lalindra Dias watches patients arrive in waves. The hospital treated nearly 1,800 dengue sufferers in less than two months starting in June—compared to about 1,050 for the entire year of 2025. In the first two weeks of July alone, more than 18,000 cases flooded into hospitals across the country. "All of a sudden, you get a large influx coming into the hospital," Dias said, describing the strain on his staff. "It's challenging for the doctors because it's a rapid increase in patients."

Hospitals have scrambled to adapt. They are adding beds, converting wards, and extending the hours worked by doctors and nurses. Yet the system remains fragile. Sri Lanka still has only four hospital beds for every 1,000 people—better than the global average of fewer than three, but not enough for what is happening now. The crisis comes at a particularly bad moment: the country is still recovering from Cyclone Ditwah, which struck in late November and caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage, tearing up critical infrastructure and health facilities. Kapila Kannangara, the acting director general of the National Dengue Control Unit, said public health workers are "stretched to their limit."

The severity of cases compounds the pressure. About 75 percent of infections involve the DENV-2 strain, which spreads rapidly and causes more serious illness. Dengue typically presents with high fever, body aches, and loss of appetite, but this year's variant is proving more dangerous. June saw 21,537 infections—more than double May's count. To relieve pressure on hospitals, doctors are now advising patients with mild symptoms to recover at home. A 23-year-old woman named Shalini Aloka Perera told Reuters that her doctor sent her home because her platelet count had not dropped dangerously low. "Then I did my treatment at home because there are too many patients in the hospitals," she said.

Health officials expect some relief as the monsoon rains weaken in August, which typically brings a seasonal decline in dengue cases. But the reprieve may be temporary. When the second monsoon season arrives in November, rainfall will return to the island, and infections could climb again. The government is considering introducing a dengue vaccine, though experts warn that any vaccine may offer only limited protection because the virus is complex and multiple strains are circulating. Dr. Dias, reflecting on the unpredictability of this year's outbreak, said forecasts are difficult. "So we cannot exactly say when it will stop, by the end of July. Sometimes it will be a little longer than that." For now, Sri Lanka remains in the grip of a crisis with no clear endpoint.