Is anything worse than usual in Kandy right now?

Yes. Dengue is well above usual: 3.5× its usual for these weeks. One more is above usual: chickenpox.

Well above usual · 3.5×

416 dengue cases a week, against a usual 120.

05001kusual range2026JanAprJulOctWeek 24 of 2026: 47, as printed

Week 24: the Ministry of Health's two reports disagree (47 here, from its Epidemiology Unit; 376 in its National Dengue Control Unit's weekly update). Shown as printed.

Read from these four weekly reports by Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka:

  • 20–26 Jul 2026 (Vol 53 No 31)
  • 26 Jul–2 Aug 2026 (Vol 53 No 32)
  • 3–9 Aug 2026 (Vol 53 No 33)
  • 10–16 Aug 2026 (Vol 53 No 34)
The 8 reports behind "usual"
  • 20–26 Jul 2024 (Vol 51 No 31)
  • 27 Jul–2 Aug 2024 (Vol 51 No 32)
  • 3–9 Aug 2024 (Vol 51 No 33)
  • 10–16 Aug 2024 (Vol 51 No 34)
  • 19–25 Jul 2025 (Vol 52 No 31)
  • 26 Jul–1 Aug 2025 (Vol 52 No 32)
  • 2–8 Aug 2025 (Vol 52 No 33)
  • 9–15 Aug 2025 (Vol 52 No 34)

The publisher's own list of its weekly reports

⅛×usual8×

How this is worked out. The last four weeks against the same four weeks of the two years before, for this district alone. Illnesses with fewer than 5 cases a week here are left out: too few to compare.

Where is dengue worst in Kandy right now?

174 cases in the week to 13 September, 3.1 times the same week last year.

These 7 local health areas were flagged as high-risk that week, most cases first.

  • Kandy MC25down from 31 the week before
  • Yatinuwara16down from 18 the week before
  • Waththegama15down from 16 the week before
  • Werellagama15up from 7 the week before
  • Pasbage14down from 20 the week before
  • Udunuwara14up from 10 the week before
  • Kundasale13up from 11 the week before
158cases the week before
7,289so far this year, against 3,332 by now last year

Source: National Dengue Control Unit, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, Weekly Dengue Update, week 37 of 2026. It counts suspected cases and comes out weeks sooner than the weekly report used elsewhere on this page, so its figures are newer and usually a little higher.

What makes the most people ill here?

Dengue: 83 of every 100 reports here this year.

  • Dengue83 in 100
  • Chickenpox7 in 100
  • Tuberculosis4 in 100
  • Leptospirosis2 in 100
  • Meningitis1 in 100
  • 8 others3 in 100

7,324 reports from Kandy so far in 2026.

Which illnesses are coming into season here?

Chickenpox usually peaks here in the next three months.

Usual peak, from 2014 to 2025Next ten weeks

How does Kandy compare with the rest of Sri Lanka?

Kandy is 16th of the 21 districts with enough dengue to compare, each against its own usual.

usual⅛×8×32×country 4.7×Anuradhapura: 6.0×Badulla: 7.6×Batticaloa: 3.0×Colombo: 4.0×Galle: 5.3×Gampaha: 6.3×Hambantota: 6.7×Jaffna: 2.5×Kalmunai: 6.5×Kalutara: 7.8×Kandy: 3.5×Kegalle: 5.3×Kurunegala: 3.8×Matale: 2.8×Matara: 7.2×Monaragala: 3.8×Nuwara Eliya: 6.3×Polonnaruwa: 5.0×Puttalam: 7.0×Ratnapura: 2.6×Trincomalee: 2.1×Kandy

Across Sri Lanka as a whole, dengue is at 4.7× its usual; here it is 3.5×.

Why each district against itself. A large district always has more cases than a small one. Each dot is a district against its own usual, so size drops out.

Where can people get care in Kandy?

84 government hospitals and clinics, from 28 primary care units to 3 national and teaching hospitals.

  • 28Primary care unitsthe first stop for most illnesses
  • 47Divisional hospitalssmall local hospitals
  • 3District and base hospitalslarger hospitals with specialists
  • 3National and teaching hospitalsthe largest, for serious and specialist care
  • 3Other specialised hospitalseye, mental health, infectious diseases and others

Where volunteers on OpenStreetMap have mapped hospitals and clinics. Their map shows where they have been, not everything that exists.

HospitalClinic or doctor

Hospitals named on the map include:

  • The National Hospital Kandy
  • Peradeniya Teaching Hospital
  • District General Hospital
  • Gampola Base Hospital
  • Teldeniya District Base Hospital
  • District Hospital Galagedara

Source: Directorate of Planning, Ministry of Health and Mass Media, Sri Lanka, List of Hospitals and Hospital Bed Data, 2026; map: OpenStreetMap contributors, via the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, licence ODbL 1.0.

How far is care from here?

1 in 10 people live more than an hour's walk from a hospital or clinic.

Walking time to the nearest hospital or clinic, for everyone living in Kandy. Half of people are within 26 minutes.

  • Within an hour's walk90%
  • One to two hours9%
  • More than two hours1%

And to a larger hospital?

6 kmhalf of people live closer than this to a base, general or teaching hospital
12%live more than 10 km away, in a straight line; roads are longer

Sources: walking times, Weiss and others, Nature Medicine 2020 (Malaria Atlas Project), a model at walking pace from facilities mapped in 2019; where people live, WorldPop 2020; larger hospitals, the Ministry of Health's list of its hospitals (2026), with locations from OpenStreetMap contributors.

Can we trust this week's numbers for Kandy?

Yes, for this week. Kandy sent figures in 52 of the last 52 weekly reports.

Weekly reports with figures from Kandy, most recent last

A reported case means someone reached a clinic and a form was filed, so these count reports, not everyone who was ill.

Sources. Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, weekly report. District maps: Survey Department of Sri Lanka, published as a Common Operational Dataset by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.