News
Serious worry over third wave
Dr. Asela Gunawardena
A new variant of the coronavirus causing a rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country and sending many symptomatic patients with severe disease to hospitals, is giving healthcare staff a headache.
Friday saw Sri Lanka recording the second highest infection numbers for a day – 969 cases. The country stands at Alert Level 3.
“Even though we had not reached zero cases earlier, we may have to consider this as the third wave,” an anxious Director-General (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, told the Sunday Times.
He said that more than 600 infections were reported on Thursday (April 22), mostly from Kuliyapitiya and Pannala. These are all cases from the pre-avurudu period, as workplaces were closed from April 9 to 19, and people even with symptoms of cough and cold went home to their villages in large numbers. So they just took the infection home. If they were in their workplaces, the containment of the spread would have been easier.
He sent out a strong plea to the public to restrict going around on vacation, on unnecessary trips, to religious places and to relatives’ homes. As long weekends, the May Day weekend, Vesak and Poson are on the calendar, he stressed that people should not go on “anavashya gaman” (unnecessary journeys).
Stay at home, urged the DG, as he explained that Big Matches (popular cricket matches between prestigious schools) are to be held in Hambantota. Plans by hotels in Colombo to put up big screens and get people to gather on their premises to view the matches should be cancelled.
Dr. Gunawardena said that if the rapid rise in the number hit by COVID-19 continues, the authorities may have to revise the number of guests at weddings (currently 150) and funerals (currently 25). Funerals should be carried out as soon as possible or at least within 48 hours.
(Click here to visit Alert Level 3 guidelines)
Kuliyapitiya: Deserted bus stand (above) and town (below) following isolation of area. Pic by Kuliyapitiya Upendra
| Lockdown only for areas where clusters mushroom Stressing that the whole of Sri Lanka will not be put under lockdown, a top-level health official said that whenever clusters of infections are identified, those specific areas would be locked down. “The lockdown or isolation of such areas would be wider than last time, as people sometimes tend to be irresponsible even when restrictions are in place to curb the spread of COVID-19,” said the Director-General (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena. (See graphic for locked down areas)
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| DG details SL’s vaccine securing plan The first group of people to get the COVID-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD) will get their second jabs, starting in the first week of May, said the Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, adding that studies have found that this injection can be given 14 weeks after the first. “If we can get another 500,000 doses of COVISHIELD by the end of May from the Serum Institute of India, we can cover all those who got the first dose,” he said, pointing out that the Health Ministry and the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) are negotiating with the Serum Institute. The DG said that on Wednesday, they also held discussions with Pfizer India to get their vaccines and the health authorities are awaiting the nod from the Cabinet Appointed Negotiations Board (CANB) which should be given shortly. “We are hoping that we can get the first tranche of about 30,000 to 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in May and staggered stocks amounting to a total of 4.8 million doses up to December. This is while we are expecting 20,000 doses of Sputnik V from Russia by the end of April and 100,000 in May, the first stocks of 7 million doses due over a period of time,” he added. |
