News
Aggressive testing and contact tracing to curb leaks from Lankapura
Extensive testing and meticulous contact tracing got underway in the area when a minor employee of the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat in the Polonnaruwa district tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, said the Director-General (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe. 
The closest or immediate contacts (first ring) of the person including his family as well as those at the Divisional Secretariat and also the Pradeshiya Sabha close by were tested, said the DG, explaining that 158 RT-PCR tests were negative.
Dr. Jasinghe said that they are awaiting the test results of the employee’s wife and two children who are at the Punanai quarantine centre. Three tests done on the employee who is being treated at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) are positive.
Assuring that “a lot more tests” will be done, over 300 for the second ring of contacts, Dr. Jasinghe said that another 68 random samples from the adjoining Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas of Tamankaduwa and Hingurakgoda were also tested to ensure that there has been no leak. “All 68 tests are negative.”
The number of tests carried out across the country has exceeded 160,000, it is learnt.
Explaining that there is a possibility of encountering patients such as the minor employee in this way through pre-existing clusters (in this case the Kandakadu cluster), Dr. Jasinghe said that the Health Ministry along with other stakeholders is taking every possible measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through such patients.
Dr. Jasinghe stressed that Sri Lanka’s performance in curbing the spread of COVID-19 has been good. Comparing and contrasting the number of days taken to detect 2,500 cases in Sri Lanka, he says that the first 500 cases were detected in 90 days; 501-1,000 cases in 23 days; 1,001-1,500 cases in 9 days; 1,501-2,000 cases in 27 days; and 2,001-2,500 cases in 17 days. (See graphic)
Positives at the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat
The Lankapura Divisional Secretariat is not functioning as all employees are in home quarantine following the detection of an employee with COVID-19, a source at ground-level told the Sunday Times.
The source said that when an employee of the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat who had visited the Kandakadu Treatment & Rehabilitation Centre tested positive while in quarantine, those at the Divisional Secretariat underwent RT-PCR tests on July 24 and 27.
The results of the July 24 tests were negative but a 52-year-old minor employee tested positive in the July 27 tests and has been sent to the NIID for treatment, the source added.
Galle prison testing
With regard to why those in the Galle prison were tested for COVID-19, the area’s Regional Epidemiologist Dr. Venura K. Singarachchi said that an inmate of the Senapura Rehabilitation Centre had been taken to the prison on July 4 as he had to attend a court hearing. Subsequently, on July 10, he was sent to a quarantine centre, where he tested negative when checked.
“However, when he was re-tested, after 14 days on July 24, he was positive and we believe he caught the virus at the quarantine centre rather than elsewhere. To be sure though, we tested all those who had come into contact with him at the Galle prison,” he said.
Around 237 tests have been done on both staff and prisoners of the Galle prison, all of which were negative.
Rajanganaya
The situation in Rajanganaya is settling, the area’s MOH, Dr. Sandya Abeyrathne said.
Most of the 20 people who tested positive from the area and were treated at the NIID have been discharged and are back at home. The first patient was detected on July 10, a contact of the Kandakadu cluster.
All contacts of these 20 patients, meanwhile, have been in home quarantine and have tested negative so far.
Kahathuduwa
The tests on all the contacts in quarantine of a visiting lecturer at the Kandakadu centre from Kahathuduwa who had tested positive are free of the coronavirus, the Sunday Times learns.
The visiting lecturer who tested positive on July 17 and his family – wife and two children (aged 6 and 11 years) – also affected by COVID-19 are at the NIID. His mother-in-law who was a contact is negative.
Gampaha
“There is no problem now,” assured the Gampaha Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Dr. Subasha Subasinghe when contacted with regard to the four persons who were detected with COVID-19 recently in the area.
The four were a driver, an instructor from the Kandakadu centre, a teacher and a female relative of the driver. The driver and the instructor who have recovered have been discharged from the Minuwangoda Hospital on July 28, while the other two are still receiving treatment there.
“Around 160 contacts of the patients have left the quarantine centres or are out of home quarantine now,” said Dr. Subasinghe, adding that around 300 RT-PCR tests have turned up negative.
| Repatriation flights resume | |
| Repatriation flights resumed on Friday (July 31) and the first, an Emirates flight from Dubai, arrived at 11.45 p.m. at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake, said Airport and Aviation Service Ltd. (AASL) Vice Chairman Rajeewasiri Sooriyaarachchi. Some other passengers come on cargo flights after obtaining prior approval from the Civil Aviation Authority as also a limited number of diplomats, it is learnt. Three to six cargo flights arrive per day. Mr. Sooriyaarachchi said that Qatar Airways has daily departure flights from the BIA; Etihad and Emirates twice a week; China Eastern Airlines once a week; and SriLankan Airlines flies to Male, London and Tokyo infrequently. Meanwhile, the RT-PCR tests of some arrivals at the BIA are conducted at the laboratory set up at the domestic terminal. “Since arrivals are currently restricted, around 20-30 tests are done daily and the reports issued within 6-8 hours, while these people are at quarantine locations. No money is charged for the testing,” said Mr. Sooriyaarachchi, explaining that the BIA laboratory with two RT-PCR machines set up on July 9 is manned by staff from the Medical Research Institute (MRI). The capacity of 100 tests of the machines is to be enhanced to enable 500 tests shortly. With regard to undergoing quarantine, AASL Chairman Major-General (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri added that passengers could either choose to go to a designated hotel or quarantine centre for their quarantine. SriLankan Airlines crew members quarantine in designated hotels at no cost but foreign crew members are charged for their stay. Diplomats should bring with them a negative report of an RT-PCR test done within 72 hours prior to their arrival after which they go into self-quarantine arranged by their missions here. |