Colombo, Oct 8 : More than 40,000 dengue cases have been reported so far this year in Sri Lanka, according to the latest statistics released by the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) on Tuesday.

The NDCU said that 40,109 cases had been reported with 19 fatalities so far, Xinhua news agency reported.

The western province recorded the highest number of cases accounting for 42.3 per cent of the total.

The northern province had the second highest number of cases accounting for 12 per cent and the central province had the third highest with 10.3 per cent.

In the western province, the highest number of 10,027 cases have been reported from the Colombo district. The Gampaha district trails behind in the province with 4,698 cases.

The NDCU has also identified 10 high-risk areas for dengue.

Last year, a total of more than 88,000 dengue cases were reported with a death toll of 57, according to the NDCU.

/IANS