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Health Minister and husband afflicted by COVID-19: Contact tracing of top health officials
View(s):Authorities scrambled yesterday evening to identify and isolate dozens of close contacts of Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi after tests confirmed that she and her husband Kanchana Jayaratne had contracted COVID-19.
The minister was moved yesterday for treatment to a hotel-turned-quarantine-centre. Her office at the Health Ministry premises was shut down and the staff asked to self-isolate pending tests.
Ms Wanniarachchi is the only minister in the Presidential Task Force set up to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI) Union President Upul Rohana confirmed that the PHIs assigned to the Health Ministry were given a detailed list of those who came into contact with the minister going back five days from her diagnosis. The list includes the Secretary to the Health Ministry, the Director General of Health Services and other top Health Ministry officials.
Health authorities will now work from this list to identify the minister’s primary contacts, Mr Rohana said. They will be able to compile a shorter list of names of such individuals by today. They will be directed to stay in self-isolation pending the results of PCR tests.
In the days prior to her COVID-19 diagnosis, the minister had attended several meetings at the Health Ministry. She was also at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) head office in Nelum Mawatha where she attended meetings with senior party members, including SLPP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa and Ports and Shipping Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena, the Sunday Times learns.
The SLPP head office in Nelum Mawatha was closed down and disinfected yesterday. Mr Rajapaksa said yesterday he was self-isolating although his test result was negative. He will take another one tomorrow.
Minister Wanniarachchi was also in Parliament briefly on Tuesday and attended the afternoon session. A senior Parliament official told the Sunday Times last evening that they were yet to be officially informed by the Health Ministry that the Minister had tested positive. Once the information is conveyed, officials would begin the process of scanning CCTV cameras to identify her close contacts, he said.
Ms Wanniarachchi becomes the fifth MP to test positive in recent weeks. Earlier, State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader Rauff Hakeem, Minister Vasudewa Nanayakkara and State Minister Piyal Nishantha tested positive. Minister Jayasekara was this week discharged from the treatment centre and is now in home quarantine. Mr Hakeem and Mr Nanayakkara are expected to be discharged soon.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry announced last evening that Education Minister G.L. Peiris, who had been in self-isolation after being identified as a close contact of State Minister Piyal Nishantha, had tested negative for the virus.