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Battle to steer Navy away from community spread of COVID-19
Doing their duty by the country: A Navy personnel on guard at the Fort Railway station. Pic by Sameera Weerasekera
In the continuing tale of Sri Lanka’s fight against COVID-19, one factor stands out starkly: its running battle with a Navy cluster that hurls out new cases every day.
As at this week, more than 60 percent of COVID-19 positive instances in the country are Navy-related. The first confirmed case was announced on April 22. A sailor from the Welisara base reported to the Welikanda hospital after showing symptoms while on home leave. But authorities now say the virus was circulating within the base much earlier.
A sailor who went on leave at least two weeks before the first case subsequently tested positive. This could explain why the illness is so widespread among the Navy. It had established itself before detection and the patients were largely asymptomatic.
“These people were living in a confined environment in various stages of acquiring the infection,” explained Dr Sudath Samaraweera, Head of the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit, adding that quarantine centres which did not offer individual rooms may also later have facilitated transmission.
Meanwhile, testing took place in batches with the most vulnerable being targeted first. PCR kits also had to be allocated to other, non-Navy groups to prevent spread among the general public. “Since the Navy cluster was more controllable, priority was given to community testing,” an official source said.
It is not known where or how the virus entered the Navy. It may have been when they participated in difficult moves to take in an infected drug addict at Suduwella in Ja Ela. But they were active in other efforts, too, such as cordoning off Bandaranayake Mawatha in Kotahena. Military in the outer perimeter did not wear personal protective equipment at the time and could even have picked the virus up through their shoes.
The Navy cluster could have been kept smaller had random testing been carried out in the early stages, even when nobody displayed signs of illness. But this is wisdom in hindsight, observed Dr Samaraweera. And lessons have been learned.
Today, cases keep emerging from the Navy because of higher testing of a group that had been widely exposed before the virus was discovered among it. The majority of those who are medically found to be positive still do not show symptoms.
On June 5, 6 and 7, health authorities will conduct “blanket testing” targeting sailors still under quarantine. This could throw up more numbers. But the cluster is anticipated to decline after the third week of June, provided it has not spread to other bases. The redeployment of Welisara inmates, therefore, has to be done in a controlled manner, officials said.
The contact tracing was an aggressive, massive initiative. Within five days–from April 25 to 29–eighty-two family members of Navy personnel tested positive. Additionally, there were a few close associates, official statistics show.
After this spurt, those who emerged as infected were overwhelmingly sailors. Between May 16 and June 3, only a single family member tested positive. And there have been no close associates affected since May 7.
The contact tracing process, which involves the police, the health sector and intelligence, was complex. Military personnel often take circuitous routes home. The first recorded case was from a village in Polonnaruwa . He left his base in a Navy bus that took him to Dambulla. He caught a van to the market and then hitched a ride on lorry. At some point, he also hired a three-wheeler and had a snack.
Within 24 hours, forty-one of his immediate contacts–including family members and close relatives–were found and quarantined. Some others were asked to self-isolate. Three villages were locked down. “Technology” was used to track his path. The sprawling Welisara base, with about 5,000 sailors, is divided into the Mahasen, Gemunu and Thakshila camps. The sailor’s associates in the Mahasen camp were administered tests. His billet was disinfected.
Simultaneously, all Navy personnel on leave were recalled but not to base. They were sent into 52 schools in the Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam districts. These were not quarantine camps but transit centres where seemingly healthy people were kept under observation. Today, around 35 schools are empty again.
Sailors had also reported to various hospitals around the country. Initially, however, it was decided to try and quarantine them inside the base. It was assumed that populations in the Gemunu and Thakshila camps were uninfected. A large number confined inside a limited space created conditions for further transmission.
“The fact that 90 percent of cases were asymptomatic and the nature of the virus meant that it spread faster than we could act,” a source close to the operation said. He did not wish to be named.
When cases were also found in the other two camps, the evacuation started. It wasn’t easy but it was imperative for the population to be thinned out. The base is massive and has arms, ammunition and explosives. It had to be secured first. The personnel were divided and sent to various centres. This required extensive planning, including of safe transport. Today, the Welisara base has a skeletal staff that includes administration and security.
The cluster was soon occupying schools, quarantine centres, as well as holiday resorts and guesthouses (for some of the families), among others. The infected were in hospitals. “Our main purpose was to ensure the virus didn’t spread to the community,” the source explained. “Around 1,000 people were in various centres and around 900 households were in self-isolation.”
It has been recommended that Navy personnel from Welisara who were in quarantine, temporary accommodation or on duty should be cleared only after testing and must undergo a further 14 days in self-isolation at their homes.
There has been no community spread in Sri Lanka since April 30. The recovery rate, including among sailors, is high.
But had the Navy cluster been avoided or, at least, kept smaller, there would have been far more capacity in quarantine centres and hospitals to take in more of the Sri Lankans now begging on West Asian streets to return home.