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Lanka received her wake-up call early February when a female Chinese tourist was tested positive for the coronavirus and was admitted immediately to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) for treatment of the feared viral attack that locked down many parts of China and had no known cure.

Though alarm bells rang through the local populace and had many in the city frantically purchasing their own half burqas to wear round their faces like knickers around their pelvises, in order to prevent being infected by another’s sneeze or cough, complacency soon settled in and the sound of the tolling bells turned to a drab drone and the strapping of masks became a tiresome chore when no further cases were reported.

If threatening clouds had still hovered portending an outbreak, they were swiftly dispelled when the welcome news broke that the corona-infected Chinese woman had made a complete recovery and, free of the COVID19, was a fitting object to be kissed on both cheeks by Health Minister Pavithra before news cameras on her discharge.

The settled, balming view that made the masks come off, was that it was an isolated case, a one off incident.  The unfortunate Chinese woman who came from China’s Wuhan city, the birthplace of the Chinese bat borne virus, had contracted the ‘Born in China’ invisible killer molecule in China and had been detected while holidaying in Lanka and had been treated by an expert team of doctors who had successfully exorcised the devil’s dragon that had taken residence to spout hell fires within her frail frame. It had not only been a medical success but its occurrence in Lanka had been an anomaly now laid to rest.

Not only did the Lankans lower their guard along with their protective masks but exulted being one country that had, by the precautionary measures the authourities adopted at ports of entry, victoriously fended off the sneaky COVID invader. So much so that one optimistic tour operator in London was busy planning a campaign to promote Lanka as an ideal COVID-free holiday destination.

This Wednesday, March 11, the bubble burst.

Lankans awoke to find the ‘coronavirus’ had landed. Landed on the isle shores of this thrice blessed land. With the moat crossed, the fort walls scaled and the citadel stormed and the throne room broken into, the COVID invasion to take the first few steps to root firmly on Lankan soil and lay a siege of fear on the landscape has now been successfully accomplished.

This time it was no tourist on holiday who could be wished away to her country of origin.  This time the icing may have come from a foreign nozzle but the cake was home baked.

The unfortunate victim was soon identified as a 52-year-old man, a tour guide who had just returned home after taking a group of Italian tourists to see the wondrous sights Lanka showcased. After developing COVID symptoms, he had tested positive for the virus.  Initial reports indicate that he had been in Dickwella, Kandy and Dambulla with a group of Italian tourists from March 2 to 8. He is reported to have met the second Lankan to be tested positive in Dickwella. The first victim’s family have been quarantined and are under observation while the second victim’s family of eight are reported to have reported to be under strict observation  after being identified as suspect cases.

A further sixty Lankans who have shown symptoms are currently being kept under observation.

According to Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, ‘three more suspected coronavirus patients have been now tested positive, bringing the total of confirmed patients to five. He said, they include a 41-year-old Sri Lankan who had arrived in Sri Lanka from Germany and was undergoing treatment at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Angoda while the other two, aged 37 and 43, had arrived from Italy and had been under quarantine at the Kandakadu quarantine centre in Batticaloa and had developed symptoms. The 37-year-old Sri Lankan was admitted to the Polonnaruwa General Hospital and the 43-year-old Sri Lankan was admitted to the IDH.

In Colombo and other major cities and towns, another form of widespread panic to rival the COVID pandemic panic has been reported: Panic buying. Hundreds of people with cash or credit cards in hand were filling their trolleys to the brim with food stuffs to feed a platoon for a month thereby depleting supermarket shelves and selfishly denying the less fortunate with the bare essentials to survive the weekend.

Following on the heels of America’s drastic action to ban all flight to the USA from Europe with the sole exception of Britain, the following are a few precautionary measures the Government has taken to minimise the virus from entering the country aboard a human host.

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The Government has suspended the issuance of visas to European passengers for two weeks as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 outbreak. The decision was taken by the Task Force on coronavirus which met on Friday at the presidential secretariat with the participation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Government has also decided to subject Sri Lankans arriving from European countries to be quarantined for two weeks and instructed the relevant authorities to study the precautionary measures taken by China to prevent the outbreak of the virus.

It has also decided to sterilise the public transport such as trains and buses from Friday and attention was dawn to make face masks available at a controlled price and regularise their distribution so that they would be freely available.

It has imposed a temporary travel ban on all passengers to South Korea, Italy and Iran for two weeks.

But funnily enough there is no ban on Chinese arriving from China, the birth place of the Wuhan COVID 19. The total COVID death toll in China as of Friday has risen to 3179. Seven more people died in the last 24 hours of March 13 while eight new cases were detected by the authorities, bringing the total number of confirmed cases close to 80,813. These are the official figures released by China’s National Health Commission in its Friday update.

According to Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, the reason why the Chinese returning from China have free entry, while Lankans retuning from Europe, South Korea and Iran are subjected to automatic quarantine on arrival for fourteen days, is because the Chinese death rate due to the virus has been steadily dropping as have been the number of suspected cases. For instance on Friday, he says, to justify his dubious decision there ‘were only 23 reported cases in China’.

Last month, in the third week of February, speaking to the Daily Mirror Dr. Jasinghe said, ‘The mortality rate of China’s CoVid-19 epidemic is or below 2 percent from those who contacted the virus, which is low compared to the SARS epidemic which had a reported mortality rate of 10 percent.’

That maybe so according to sterile statics but what does the actual death toll reveal: The 2002-3 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, which also began in China, killed 774 people worldwide and affected approximately 8000 people mainly in China, though a few cases were reported in 26 countries. The COVID epidemic, which Jasinghe said is much less exacting with a mortality rate lower than SARS, is, according to World Health Organisation update as of 12 March

Globally 125,048 confirmed (6729 new) 4613 deaths (321 new)

China 80,981 confirmed (26 new) 3173 deaths (11 new)

Furthermore, paying a glowing tribute to China’s masterly handling of the COVID crisis, Dr. Jasinghe said in his February interview with the Daily Mirror: ‘We must give credit to China that they contained the virus within China as much as possible which paved the way for this disease not to spread all over the world.’

‘Credit to China for containing it spread all over the world?’

As the WHO latest update has it

Outside of China 44,067 confirmed (6703 new), 1,440 deaths (310 new), 117 countries affected with French Polynesia, Turkey, Honduras and Côte d’Ivoire joining the COVID Club.

Thus when the Director General of Health said this week that Chinese arrivals in Lanka are not subject to automatic quarantine like the natives are, because the reported cases have dropped to 23 on Friday and pose no threat, he should have a quick glance at the WHO countries’ COVID risk assessment rankings. WHO lists China risk assessment as Very High.

Or is high risk China granted special ‘favoured’ status? The nation’s heath compromised by diplomatic and economic necessities? In the same manner the US have allowed flights from Britain to land on American tarmacs.’

If the Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe – who praised China last month and described how he had personally witnessed the WHO Director General being ‘’full of praise for the People’s Republic of China for their actions, their transparency and their technological brilliance in curbing this disease,” -  if he is committed to prevent the COVID epidemic from becoming a ‘Landemic’ in the land, he should take a leaf out of the Chinese Green Book and act ruthlessly to ensure there is no single exception to the rule.

No point in keeping the door closed to bar the sly virus from sneaking in if the keyhole stays uncovered.

Tragedy of Uni ‘rag’ victim on fresher’s night For far too long, ragging in Lanka’s universities has been the sport of sadists, given a licence to practise their depravities with no holds barred, without having to fear the consequences. And for far too long have the authorities ignored the sadism inflicted on students in the euphemistic name of ragging. The beginning of the annul academic year in the Groves of Academy is that time of year when it is open season for hunting down novices  and using them to gratify the pent up perverted lust of the seniors.  These are the set of’ people who will soon leave the hallowed grounds, garlanded with the epithet ‘the intelligentsia of Lanka’. FAMILY PORTRAIT: Pasindu, second from left with mother and father, brother with sister on day she was called to the Bar It is to this sordid world, 21-year-old ex Peterite J.A Pasindu Hirushan from Kamaragoda in Minuwangoda stepped in after he had received three A grades at the Advance Level examination and chosen the Sri Jayewardenepura University to follow a degree course in the University’s management faculty.  His sister had already been called to the Bar and was now an Attorney- at- Law. Today he lies on a bed at the National Hospital. Classified as a ragging victim. But it is not ragging that caused Pasindu Hirushan to lie in critical condition on a hospital bed with serious brain injuries. He is the victim of a heinous crime. Last Thursday senior students had organised a ‘ragging’ and welcome party for freshers at the university’s hall. As the party progressed the seniors and the freshers mingled with each other. Some were downstairs, some were upstairs. Shortly after midnight a group of seniors had asked Pasindu to take some water to the seniors partying upstairs. After delivering the water, Pasindu had been coming down the 25 steps stairway when a few senior students had rolled down a bus tyre from top of the stairs. Pasindu had been on the 15th step when the massive had hit him. He had plunged and hit his head on the concrete step. Call that ragging? It’s more like an act of premeditated murder, like firing a gun in the direction of a retreating figure, or an act calculated to cause grievous bodily harm. On Monday, Higher Education Minister Bandula Gunawardana said two investigations were underway to determine what happened to the first-year student of the Sri Jayawardenepura University. The minister said: “The student has sustained injuries to the brain. It’s too early to say that this is the result of ragging. However, there has been something wrong. The students had been at the premises till 1.30 am. It is alleged that students had been using intoxicants.” It is irrelevant whether this is a result of ragging. What matters is that the criminal law had been violated and a young man is critically injured due to a criminal act by certain people. The fact that it may have taken place during a bout of ragging is not a defence known in criminal law to a charge of murder or attempted murder  or culpable homicide or  manslaughter or grievous bodily harm. Four students have been arrested over this tragic incident. The full force of the criminal law should strike the culprits. Both as a punishment for the crime committed and as a deterrent for future raggers. Pasindu Hirushan entered the Groves of Sri Jayewardenepura University to enhance his brain power. And not to get his brain damaged for the sake of another’s sport.

COVID is no respecter of persons HOLLYWOOD COUPLE: Actor Tom Hanks and wife actress Rita Wilson get a COVID hit in Australia The dreaded coronavirus, now christened by the World Health Organisation as COVID 19, and, given top billing on the nucleic acid molecule stage, branded a pandemic that might well prove the ‘Nigh, the end of the world is nigh’ prophets of doom finally right, is an arrogant sun of a gun who doesn’t give a dam whether you are rich and famous or just a down and out nobody. In its one virus Rambo style genocide attack on humankind, it has not only shown no mercy to its victims, mowing all in its pandemic path but demonstrated its no respecter persons, not even the Almighty, whose arch servant on earth, too, is presently in ‘locked down’ mode in the Holy See. While infecting 125,000 humans so far with its virulence and claiming the lives of over 4,500, it has also laid low the British Health Secretary Nadine Dorries who made contact with COVID on Tuesday and immediately ran into a storm when the wife of a fellow MP Andrew Bridgen, publicly criticised Nadine Dorries for not informing health officials of contact with her husband. Brigden’s wife Nevena tweeted: Why did you not tell that you sat next to my husband in a tea room? I have a baby and a seventy five year mother jeopardized. You were treated but no one is coming to help us.’ Nadine replied: ‘Because I did not sit next to your husband. He was in tea room when I walked in, on another table not close to me. He text me and told me he had sat next to me, I was too ill to discuss but not sick enough not to know, that wasn’t true. I told him if he was worried, to call 111.’ Following that spat the little devil struck Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau wife, Sophie who had recently returned from London and had experienced flu-like symptoms. When tested, she proved positive that same Thursday evening. She was immediately isolated. And so was the Prime Minister Trudeau for two weeks.  In a statement issued by his office it was said, “The Prime Minister is in good health with no symptoms. As a precautionary measure and following the advice of doctors, he will be in isolation for a planned period of 14 days.” JUSTIN TRUDEAU AND HIS WIFE SOPHIE: She takes the COVID hit while he is quarantined for two weeks It was actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson’s turn next to bite the dust when they fell  fall victim to the virus while shooting a film in Queensland, Australia. Tom tweeted: “There are those for whom it could lead to a very serious illness. We are taking it one-day-at-a-time. There are things we can all do to get through this by following the advice of experts and taking care of ourselves and each other, no?” His wife Wilson also posted a light-hearted tweet writing, “From here on out, the only Corona I want is from Mexico and you drink it.” And the film they were shooting? One on the life of Elvis Presley. No wonder they were all shook up with chills and fevers, locked down in heartbreak hotel. Australian Home Minister Pete Dutton was next in line to take the COVID hit. The Federal Government frontbencher said he felt fine but woke up with a temperature and sore throat. “I immediately contacted the Queensland Department of Health and was subsequently tested for COVID-19,” Mr Dutton said in a statement. ‘’I was advised by Queensland Health this afternoon that the test had returned positive. It is the policy of Queensland Health that anyone who tests positive is to be admitted into hospital and I have complied with their advice.’ Mr Dutton had been in the US last week, where he met with Ivanka Trump, Attorney-General William Barr and officials from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance on March 6, according to a Twitter post from Australia’s embassy in the United States. He had participated in Cabinet’s national security committee meeting on Thursday, during which the Government decided to extend its China, Italy, Iran and South Korean travel bans, via phone. BRITISH HEALTH MINISTER: Nadine gets the virus and immediately runs into a spat with a fellow MP’s wife But the Prime Minister Mr Scott Morrison will not be tested for COVID-19, based on medical advice. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said:  ‘’In advice provided to the Prime Minister this evening, the deputy chief medical officer has reiterated that only people who had close contact with the Minister in the preceding 24 hours before he became symptomatic need to self-isolate. That does not include the Prime Minister or any other members of the Cabinet.” Who will bite the dust next? Ask not for whom the bells toll, for it may well toll for thee. But if there is one silver lining in the corona it is that it has shed doubt on Kipling’s poetic assertion the ‘East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet’. The COVID, whilst levelling all in the dust as equals, has perhaps brought the east and west closer to realising that all men are created equal and perish equal, and when engaged in a ‘mother of all wars’ war when there is no human enemy but one common foe threatening mankind, the end result remains the same: the senseless loss of human lives whether claimed by man or virus makes no difference. When nature’s virus has brought the world to its knees, when the House of God in the Vatican is sealed and locked down, what hope is there for mankind but for East and West to meet and stay locked in embrace and consider the lot of one as the equal lot of the other. PS: Boris Johnson warned the British public to brace themselves to finding even 10000 suspected COVID cases and to accept that the loved ones of many will die before their time. Hopefully scientist working in some lab will find a vaccine soon. Even if none is found round the corner and millions die as a result, there will still be hope lingering in people’s hearts that a cure will be found, even in five years time. Hallelujah. But what about climate change, what about global warming? Scientists have been warning for years now that if mankind does not mend its ways and recklessly carries on polluting the earth and the earth’s temperature rises two degrees more, the climate change caused as a result will be unfit for human habitation and will be irreversible. In what scientist’s lab can we then harbour hope to find a vaccine or cure then for irreversible climate change?