Is anything worse than usual in Matale right now?

Yes. Dengue is well above usual: 2.8× its usual for these weeks. One more is above usual: leishmaniasis.

Well above usual · 2.8×

49 dengue cases a week, against a usual 18.

05001kusual range2026JanAprJulOctWeek 14 of 2026: 256, as printedWeek 24 of 2026: 889, as printed

Week 14: the Ministry of Health's two reports disagree (256 here, from its Epidemiology Unit; 15 in its National Dengue Control Unit's weekly update). Shown as printed.

Week 24: the Ministry of Health's two reports disagree (889 here, from its Epidemiology Unit; 29 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.

Dengue in Matale, newest week

12 cases in the week to 13 September, 2.8 times fewer than the same week last year.

10cases the week before
1,010so far this year, against 846 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: 70 of every 100 reports here this year.

  • Dengue70 in 100
  • Leishmaniasis12 in 100
  • Leptospirosis5 in 100
  • Chickenpox5 in 100
  • Tuberculosis4 in 100
  • 8 others4 in 100

3,054 reports from Matale so far in 2026.

Which illnesses are coming into season here?

Nothing is due to peak here in the next three months. December is the next busy season, for leishmaniasis.

Usual peak, from 2014 to 2025Next ten weeks

How does Matale compare with the rest of Sri Lanka?

Matale is 18th 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×Matale

Across Sri Lanka as a whole, dengue is at 4.7× its usual; here it is 2.8×.

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 Matale?

35 government hospitals and clinics, from 14 primary care units.

  • 14Primary care unitsthe first stop for most illnesses
  • 19Divisional hospitalssmall local hospitals
  • 2District and base hospitalslarger hospitals with specialists

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:

  • Dambulla General Provincial Hospital
  • Kandenuwara General Hospital
  • Kandenuwara General Hospital
  • Galewela Base Hospital
  • Matale Base Hospital
  • Sigiriya Base Hospital

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?

39% of 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 Matale. Half of people are within 48 minutes.

  • Within an hour's walk61%
  • One to two hours31%
  • More than two hours8%

And to a larger hospital?

10 kmhalf of people live closer than this to a base, general or teaching hospital
49%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 Matale?

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

Weekly reports with figures from Matale, 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.