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Seeduwa hotel rebuts claim it started second wave
The CID resumed their investigations to ascertain whether the hotel where the Ukrainian airline crew were staying was responsible for originating the second wave of the pandemic.
The probe was reactivated a day after COVID-19 Control State Minister Sudharshani Fenandopulle’s statement in Parliament.
A new batch of Ukranians arrived in the island recently Pic by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi
Ramada Hotel, Seeduwa, General Manager Asoka Jayamanne said the State Minister’s statement citing the virus spread from his hotel was baseless. He said the CID discontinued the probe after it was satisfied that the virus did not spread from the hotel. “But they came back a day after State Minister Fernandopulle’s statement,” he said.
Mr Jayamanne said the Air Force, which was tasked with the responsibility of monitoring the Ukrainian airline crew’s movements, conducted an investigation in October and did not hold the hotel responsible.
The GM stressed that the hotel followed health guidelines in accommodating crew members.
Briefly outlining the timeline of the Ukrainian crew’s stay in the hotel, Mr Jayamanne said the authorities informed the hotel on Sep 13, that one of the eight members of the Ukrainian crew tested positive and he was taken to the IDH on the same day. The second member of the crew had complained of fever, was admitted to the Negombo Hospital on Sep 15, but tested negative, he said. The rest of the crew, having tested negative for the virus, left the hotel on Sep 23.
There were three dedicated room boys, who stayed separate from other employees of the hotel, to serve the crew. Those three employees tested negative along with the six crew members on Sep 23, he explained.
Mr Jayamanne said that as per health guidelines, 7-10 staff were subjected to PCR tests every month. After PCR tests on Sep 23, the six employees who were tested at the next PCR tests proved negative on Oct 9.
On Oct 12, out of 15 staff members subjected to PCR tests, five tested positive, but none of them were employed to serve the crew,” he stressed.
“The three room boys who had been serving the crew were not among this group.” Next, 45 employees who were serving on that date, including the three employees who served the crew, were subjected to PCR tests, tested negative on Oct 14, he disclosed. “This is the second time the three room boys tested negative.”
All of the 50 employees who were tested at the next testing day, including the three room boys, tested negative on Oct 23. “The three room boys tested negative on all three occasions,” he pointed out, adding that the virus had been brought into the hotel from out, but not vise versa.
Explaining the investigations by the authorities, he said that they had questioned the staff and checked the CCTV system monitored by 23 cameras following the crew member testing positive on Sep 13. “They were ascertaining as to whether regulations were properly followed or not,” and they had cleared the hotel only after a thorough inquiry. However, the Hotel was closed for 14 days from Oct 14-28 since five employees tested positive, said Mr Jayamanne.
The GM said the hotel was under 24-hour air force surveillance during the Ukrainian crew’s stay.
State Minister Fernandopulle, speaking to the Sunday Times, said the Ukrainian crew was responsible for the second wave creating the Brandix cluster, referring to her statement in Parliament. “This information is given to me by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health, based on their investigations,” she said.
She added that virological studies had found that the virus strain in the Minuwangoda cluster was similar to that in European countries such as Denmark and Ukraine. She stated that the Epidemiology Unit, through contact tracing, linked it to Ukrainian airline crew members who had stayed at a hotel in Seeduwa.
However, she said that these findings were not conclusive as there is a CID investigation into the matter which had not been completed.
Chief Epidemiologists Dr Sudath Samaraweera of the Epidemiological Unit of the Health Ministry stated in the media recently that the “most possible way” the COVID-19 virus could have entered Sri Lanka, was through the Ukrainian airline crew that was quarantined at a hotel in Seeduwa in September last year.
Dr Samaraweera stated that the other possibilities were illegal fishing activities, or repatriates who were not properly diagnosed, etc.