Follow the basic health measures of prevention, was the strong plea, as the Health Ministry tightened its guidelines till October 31.

“Everyone should wear a face-mask when leaving home, hand hygiene is essential as also social distancing in public places. All unnecessary travel and gatherings should be halted forthwith,” said Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera.

New guidelines till October 31

Some of the guidelines included no visits to prisons; closure of all universities, schools, tuition classes, pre-schools and daycare centres; halting of all parties (indoor, outdoor or beach parties); closure of pubs, bars, cinemas, theatres, casinos, night clubs, betting centres & spas; and banning of all public gatherings, carnivals & musical shows.

Weddings and funerals though allowed are under tight restrictions with service providers and attendees being restricted to less than 50% of the capacity of the hall as also grocery stores, beauty/barber salons, gymnasiums, places of worship, dining-in restaurants, swimming pools, children’s parks & the zoo.

Seating capacities on public transport and private taxi services have been restricted.

The country’s attention turned towards Minuwangoda when a 39-year-old supervisor at the factory of Brandix Apparel sought treatment for fever, cough and chest pain at the Gampaha Hospital.

“We did random sampling and took an RT-PCR test. That’s how we caught the infection in this patient,” said Gampaha’s Consultant Respiratory Physician Dr. Bodhika Samarasekera.

The patient had sought treatment at the Preliminary Care Unit (PCU) on September 30 and the doctors there had referred her to Dr. Samarasekera’s ward on suspicions that she was having pneumonia. There were no suspicions of COVID-19. A chest X-ray indicated there was no pneumonia and when she complained of chest pain, an ECG ruled out a heart issue.

“But in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the airport being in our district, we have been alert and have been performing random sampling of those who come in from the community,” says Dr. Samarasekera, who with his Medical Officer, Dr. Manjula Nanayakkara, took the sample, sent it for testing and on October 2 discharged the patient as she was not sick.

He says that this patient was probably not the first (index) patient in this cluster. But this is different to the Kandakadu cluster which was limited to those at the Treatment & Rehabilitation Centre, its staff and those who visited them. Kandakadu was contained. Here, people who were asymptomatic may have gone on trips, visited others’ homes not just in the area but all over the country. This is why there could be pockets of COVID-19 outside this area.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times learns from other sources that it had been on September 27 that another employee of the same factory had sought treatment for fever, cough and cold at a clinic run after hospital-hours by a doctor working at the Gampaha Hospital. She had returned on the 28th for further treatment but having got better come once again on the 30th to get a medical certificate.

Now this doctor has tested positive and is in hospital, while health staff at the Gampaha Hospital who came into contact with him are in quarantine.

“We don’t know how many Brandix staff came back to Sri Lanka,” says PHI Union

The Public Health Inspectors’ (PHIs) Union said that it does not know how many Brandix staff arrived in Sri Lanka but there are fewer than 10 who were in Koggala for home quarantining and the supervision of the PHIs.

“I do not know what happened to the others and there was no information provided to us about them,” said union Secretary M. Balasooriya, adding: “I am not putting any blame on anyone but I believe there should be proper coordination in a situation like this.”

There is a document on social media that about 40 Brandix staff members who arrived from India are under their supervision but nothing of that sort has happened, he said.

Mr. Balasooriya went onto say that there were questions raised as to whether the PHIs gave permission to Brandix employees who returned from India to enter the factories. “We responsibly say that we have not given such permission. We don’t know whether they visited the factories or not or what the issue is, but we have not given any permission.”

All the returnees from India were Sri Lankan Executive cadre employees who had been expatriated to support with the management of our facilities in India. Further, we had not had any Indian or foreign-returnees at our facilities to repair air-conditioning or other work.

Our facility in Minuwangoda does not use any fabric from India as already stated in our previous statement. Further, the Coronavirus can last only a few hours outside a carrier’s body. With raw material imports taking 10 – 20 days to reach Sri Lanka, the virus is unable to survive. Further, the closed containers reach very high temperatures during the travel period, during which the virus is once again unable to survive. Hence, during the import process, the virus is no longer effective for contamination.

Is it true that Brandix is exporting face-masks to the USA? If so, what has been the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis that has surrounded the Minuwangoda factory?

The face masks we produce at Minuwangoda are produced as an apparel accessory for our existing customers. We have halted production since the identification of the 1st COVID-19 positive employee at Minuwangoda.

Did any Sri Lankan or other workers (of foreign origin) from any of the foreign factories (in Bangladesh, Singapore, United States, United Kingdom, Cambodia, Australia and Haiti) come to Sri Lanka for work in the past two months?  

No, this has not taken place.

What were the health procedures followed at the Brandix factories in the light of COVID-19? If stringent safety precautions were followed, how was the third-party cleaning service contracted by BrandixMinuwangoda allowed to carry out cleaning processes at the factory when its staff was ill? (We refer to the video that has been on social media and which Brandix has addressed in the media release)

All our facilities are instructed to follow the protocol for COVID-19 prevention in line with the health authorities. We are investigating on how the protocols have been inadequate in spite of what is in place.

Our COVID-19 prevention process is a standard practice for both internal and external parties. The two contracted cleaning staff members had been requested to carry out the sanitation process required prior to the PCR testing scheduled for 5th October 2020, a requirement that was conducted under the supervision of the PHI present at the facility and in complete adherence to the COVID-19 prevention protocol that included wearing of hazmat suits.

Was there a party in early September where Brandix employees gathered at any of the Brandix factories?

Upon resuming our routine business post the closure during the COVID-19 lockdown phase earlier this year, we have been working tirelessly to sustain the limited number of orders received. As a general protocol, our factory management takes efforts to run employee engagement to boost morale and for team building purposes, hence we are investigating as to whether proper protocols had been followed.

Did the Brandix management issue instructions to any of the factories (including Minuwangoda) for employees to come to work even if they were unwell? Did a Brandix General Manager on-site at Minuwangoda instruct 6 workers who had COVID-19 symptoms to go back to work on the factory floor?

Brandix has a clear health and safety protocol and as a policy, we have directed all our facilities to follow the Ministry of Health protocol. However, we are thoroughly investigating on any failures in this regard and will share our learnings, and take the necessary action if found to be in violation.

All quarantine regulations followed

Brandix has reiterated that all the passengers followed the Sri Lanka Government protocol for the prevention and control of COVID-19, which includes PCR testing and a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a government regulated quarantine facility, as well as the 14-day self-quarantine process done under the supervision of the respective PHIs.

“Upon completion of the 14-day mandatory period at a government regulated quarantine facility, a certification signed by the Head of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 and the Director General of Health Services is issued to each individual confirming the same. The passengers then underwent the 14-day self-quarantine process done under the supervision of the respective PHIs. Certificates in this regard were issued by the Office of Medical Officer of Health for the respective area, which is signed off by the respective Public Health Inspector and the Medical Officer of Health, confirming completion of the self-quarantine process for each passenger as well,” it states.

Certification from Government Authorities - 22nd Sep - 6th Oct

Certification from Office of Medical Officer of Health