July 24, Colombo: The Epidemiology Unit of Sri Lanka's Health Ministry says that the outbreak of Dengue fever has caused 164 deaths while 22,159 cases have been reported so far this year.

The Unit reported that the highest number of deaths of 45 had been reported from the Colombo district followed by Gampaha district with 21 deaths and Jaffna district with 16 deaths.

Twenty deaths out of the 45 from Colombo district were reported from the Colombo Municipal Council limits while the other 25 were reported from areas including the Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia Municipal Council that has been declared a Dengue high risk zone since last week.

The highest number of dengue patients amounting to 3,341 has been recorded in the month of July between the 1st and 24th of the month.