Hospitals overwhelmed as Sri Lanka dengue toll nears 300

Garbage on Colombo's streets has contributed to a record dengue fever outbreak. - AFP/file

Colombo (AFP) - Sri Lanka announced Monday it was intensifying its war on dengue fever, with schools to shut across the island to help curb the unprecedented outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus that has claimed nearly 300 lives.

The Red Cross also announced it was scaling up its emergency response to the country's worst-ever outbreak of the disease as the number of dengue cases topped 100,000.