If the country opens up what would be the procedure for quarantining people, was the question on the minds of many.

When asked about the current quarantining capacity, Army Spokesperson Brigadier Chandana Wickramasinghe said that as of Thursday, 30,133 people had completed the quarantine process at the 40 tri-service managed centres.

Currently, there are 3,840 people still in quarantine and by August 12 (Wednesday).

An army source said that as at August 14, there are around 12 hotels converted into quarantine centres. They are being used for repatriates and seafarers (who disembark for two or three days). The usual RT-PCR tests are done on all.

The source declined to give the number of quarantine centres but said that there should be no concerns over capacity, as facilities can be arranged dependent on need.

Navy Spokesperson Captain Indika De Silva said they manage five quarantine centres at Sampoor, Oluvil, Nachchikuda, Boossa and Kalpitiya with the latter two being for sea marshals only.

“We only handle the quarantining of those who come in to the ports/harbours such as fishermen and sea marshals,” he said, adding that currently there are 95 in quarantine but the centres run by the navy have the capacity to accommodate 264. If required, they can use the Sampoor and Nachchikuda centres too.

The Air Force’s Acting Director (Media), Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe, said that the Air Force maintains four quarantine centres in Iranamadu, Mullaitivu, Wanni and Palaly.

There are 498 returnees in quarantine at Iranamadu (76), Mullaitivu (257) and Wanni (165). The Palay centre is vacant now but can be used if needed.

Staff members who manage the centres also undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period and are tested before they assume other duties, he added.

The world would have to wait and see how reports of a Russian vaccine for COVID-19 develop. It is too early to comment on it, said Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, pointing out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is in negotiation with Russia to see what is happening.

Explaining that usually it would take decades to produce a vaccine, he said that in the light of the threat posed by COVID-19, many teams across the world have fast-tracked the process and there are 20-30 potential candidates. But clinical trials and proper testing and procedures have to be followed strictly.

Dr. Samaraweera said that for vaccines to be accepted, they have to be pre-qualified by the WHO. There is a platform set up by GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, along with donor agencies which has assured that every country would get a quota of any vaccine against COVID-19, either free or at cost, depending on the country’s economy.

According to reports, the Gamaleya Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Health launched Phase I trials on ‘Gam-Covid-Vac Lyo’, a vaccine which is a combination of two adenoviruses, Ad5 and Ad26 that were engineered with a coronavirus gene.

On August 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the vaccine which had a name-change to ‘Sputnik V’, had been approved by the Russian health care regulator before Phase III trials had begun and his daughter had also been administered the vaccine.

It is to be available within two weeks primarily for doctors and widely in October.

The WHO has said it was in talks with the Russian authorities about undertaking a review of the vaccine as it is not among the list of six vaccines that have reached Phase III trials, which involve more widespread testing in humans.

When asked about the reopening of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Katunayake, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that there is a plan to do so on September 15. However, it is not set in stone. They will monitor the situation and take an appropriate decision, to open or keep the airport closed, nearer to the day.

“We will not open the BIA like opening the floodgates. It would be a controlled opening,” he said.

There is an increase in the number of repatriation flights, according to Dr. Samaraweera, with flights coming in every other day including some charter flights almost daily. Now samples being taken at the BIA are tested in the laboratory set up there, which has a 500-test capacity which can be increased if needed.

Looking at the different groups of people, he said the returnees have to undergo 14 days quarantine in either a state-run centre or a designated hotel, followed by another 14 days of home quarantine. Foreigners who wish to attend to business matters would also have to undergo 14 days of quarantine. This is a requirement as both these groups (returnees and business people) would be moving around in society freely.

“Tourists would be different as they would come and go but not mix with society. There would have to be group tours with a certain number in each group and they would have to go on guided tours with the specific places decided on in advance (have a strict itinerary) so that the health authorities are able to monitor them. Such specific routes would be expanded only gradually,” he said.

The Sunday Times understands that they would have to come to Sri Lanka for a minimum of seven days and would be tested on arrival and once again on the 7th day. If both are negative, they would be issued a green sticker on the 14th day with a slight relaxation of the restrictions. If a tourist tests positive for COVID-19, he/she would be able to seek admission and treatment from a designated private hospital. Tourists would also have to have COVID-19 insurance cover.

On the decision by China to cancel SriLankan Airlines flights carrying passengers from West Asia due to 23 testing positive, Dr. Samaraweera said that these charter flights had touched down in Sri Lanka but no one had got on or off. So there was no danger, but the airline crew has to be in quarantine.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Airport & Aviation Services, (Retd.) Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, said that there are no plans to reopen the BIA yet. They were working towards re-opening the BIA by mid-September.

The airports scattered across the country are the BIA, the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), the Jaffna International Airport (Palaly), Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) and the Ratmalana Airport.

Currently, the BIA and MRIA receive repatriation flights.

“We get three flights per day at each airport, with a total of around 900-1,000 people coming in. The others are small airports and do not cater to large passenger flights,” he said.

These repatriation flights ferry people from West Asia, the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom, Maldives, India etc., it is learnt. A flight is due from the USA on August 21, while a flight with 230 passengers came from Singapore on August 12.

All these passengers undergo the usual RT-PCR tests and quarantining processes.

The Chief Airport Manager of the Ratmalana Airport, Aruna Rajapaksha, said that Ratmalana primarily focuses on domestic and training operations which have begun in a small scale.

The only international flights they operate are corporate jets and in March they used to get 5-6 per month. They expect this number to continue once the country opens up for international flights, he said, adding that Ratmalana follows BIA protocols in terms of safety measures.

Ports

When the Sunday Times checked about Sri Lanka’s ports (Colombo, Hambantota and Galle) and harbours (Trincomalee, Kankesanturai and Oluvil), Sri Lanka Ports’ Authority Additional Managing Director Upali De Soyza said that passenger disembarkation was halted on March 3.

Cargo ships operate as usual, with 12 arriving at Colombo per day and around 150 at Trincomalee and 50 at Galle annually. When compared to 2019, there is a 9% drop due to COVID-19.

Here too RT-PCR tests and quarantining are followed if sea marshals disembark.

With reports that frozen food could harbour the new coronavirus, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said that this was a “grey” area and more studies are needed to confirm or dispel this.

After 102 days of having no COVID-19 cases in New Zealand, an employee at an Americold coolstore in Mount Wellington was one of four people who tested positive on August 11. He handled frozen food that was destined for grocery retailers and food service companies.

Reports said that investigators were trying to determine whether the virus could have been frozen in the cold storage facility for weeks or been shipped in with the frozen food.

Simultaneously, authorities in the eastern Chinese port city of Yantai (which is 18km from ground zero Wuhan) said that the virus was detected on packaging of imported frozen seafood.

Back in early June, China’s Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control told the media that the virus can survive on the surface of frozen food for up to three months and there were suspicions that contaminated goods were the source of the latest outbreak in China.