News
Four COVID patients recover, cases increase to 76
Good news that four COVID-19 affected patients, including Patient 1, have recovered and would be ready for discharge after a few more tests, came amid a lockdown of the country through a 60-hour curfew imposed at 6 p.m. on Friday.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) is awaiting confirmation that the four patients are free of the virus before sending them home, the Sunday Times learns, while two of the balance patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There were altogether 68 confirmed cases at the NIID at the time the newspaper was issued.
The number of confirmed patients across the country rose to 76 – including the very first Chinese woman tourist who recovered and went home – by last afternoon, according to the Health Promotion Bureau, with the suspected cases in designated hospitals reaching 245.
This was as many health sources urged that the lockdown be extended beyond tomorrow to cover the 14-day incubation period when the virus can spread, after facilitating a way for people who are in urgent need of food and medicine to buy their requirements without crowding such places.
“We need to prevent people from gathering for panic buying with crowds rushing to all shops and supermarkets and vehicles queuing up for fuel,” said many experts.
Stay home and help us to fight the new coronavirus, was also the simple message that was reiterated throughout the week by many including Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Army Commander Shavendra Silva and Deputy Inspector General Ajith Rohana.
Another factor which came to light was how a few people who were ill were walking into hospitals and wilfully withholding information that they were either returnees from high-risk countries, especially Italy, or had come into contact with those returnees, putting everyone else they met in danger.
In one instance, the North Colombo (Ragama) Teaching Hospital had to place all those in a general ward, healthcare workers as well as patients, in quarantine due to this, the Sunday Times understands.
The Sunday Times learns that elsewhere a few senior doctors are also being tested to find out whether they have contracted COVID-19, most probably from some patients they saw without knowing that they had COVID-19.
The authorities took urgent measures this week to turn the Welikanda Base Hospital in the Polonnaruwa district, with much support from the army, as well as the Mulleriyawa (Colombo East) Hospital as treatment centres for COVID-19. The Welikanda Hospital will be under the purview of the Director of the Polonnaruwa District General Hospital.
When asked about the capacity of Intensive Care Units (ICUs), Dr. Jasinghe said they were in the process of increasing these facilities as well as securing adequate stocks of medications and equipment to tackle COVID-19.
He said the ICU bed capacity of four at the NIID is being increased to 10 and there are a considerable number of beds at the Mulleriyawa Hospital which they would consider based on how the situation progresses.
When looking closely at how the virus behaves, around 80% of those affected would have mild disease; 15% moderate to severe and only about 5% would require ICU treatment, said Dr. Jasinghe, adding “we believe we can somehow manage the current situation with the resources we have”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Australian government on Friday donated medical equipment to the value of Rs. 105 million in support of the treatment of COVID-19. Among the equipment was High-Dependency Unit (HDU) beds, multipara monitors, a pulse oximeter, infusion pumps, a syringe pump, suction apparatus, an ECG machine, portable X-ray machine, a defibrillator, an autoclave tabletop and a high flow oxygen system.
(See also Pages 4 and 5)