The National Dengue Control Unit website indicates an alarming 49,320 cases reported island-wide up to July 
this year

With the dengue epidemic rising exponentially, Suren Cooke Agencies (SCA) collaborated with the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and the ESNA Group to spray targeted chemical solutions in the Cinnamon Gardens area using drones. This initiative is a follow-up to a recent campaign to identify the potential high-risk areas in Colombo using similar technology. 

Meanwhile, the National Dengue Control Unit website indicates an alarming 49,320 cases reported island-wide up to July this year. According to CMC’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni, as of early July, the entire city had 2,138 cases while the Cinnamon Gardens area recorded the highest number of cases. 

Several factors contribute to the high rate of dengue in the area, including many new construction sites and multi-storey buildings that create breeding grounds during monsoonal rains. Additionally, due to the presence of several hospitals in the vicinity, there is a high prevalence of dengue-infected patients in the area, and this leads to the transmission of the virus through the Aedes aegypti mosquito, he explained. 

“Our major issue was to identify the breeding sites on a higher elevation. This is where Suren Cooke Agencies provided crucial support by helping us treat the breeding sites with larvicides using drones,” he said. 

The Chairman/Founder of the ESNA Group, Eshana De Silva said that their organisation partnered with Suren Cooke Agencies as the sponsors of the programme “with the shared goal of eradicating the deadly dengue outbreak that affects the country’s population” and that they look forward to partnering up with SCA on more CSR projects in future. 

The Director Suren Cooke Agencies, Sheran Cooke, stated that the spray drones used were equipped with a special function that allowed accurate targeting of the specific location while saving the quantity of the chemical used and dispersed on the environment. 
The Daily Mirror was the print media sponsor of the initiative.