Distribution and Spatial Pattern Analysis of Dengue Cases Reported to the District General Hospital Matale, Sri Lanka: Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Dengue is a vector-borne disease that occurs predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions. Public and social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted the health-seeking behavior, the transmission of disease, and the spatial and temporal distribution of dengue patients in Sri Lanka and the district of Matale This study aimed to ascertain dengue patient pathways to the District General Hospital (DGH) Matale and identify the spatial and temporal distribution of patients reported to the hospital before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective: Data were obtained from the Notification Register of the DGH Matale and National Dengue Control Unit from January 2017 to December 2021. The patient locations were converted into a UTM coordinate sys-tem, and a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based map was developed using QGIS.
Methods: The number of dengue cases treated within Matale district increased from 29.6% to 72.0%, with a depletion (55.4%) reported in 2020. The majority were from the southwestern part of the district, where popu-lation density and urbanization were higher. The number of dengue patients from other districts admitted to the hospital increased from 8.7% in 2017 to 20.6% in 2019 and decreased to 14.7% in 2020 and 9.1% in 2021. The highest incidence rates were reported in the Southwest and Northeast monsoon seasons. Further, middle adulthood (29.5 %) male patients (57%) were predominantly affected
Conclusion: The distribution and spatial pattern of dengue cases reported in this study provide strategic infor-mation for managing future dengue outbreaks.