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Caught in-between “absurd and unscientific” quarantine decisions
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Dr Hemal Fernando
Returning to Sri Lanka from the United States of America, a senior Consultant Cardiologist is caught in-between “absurd and unscientific” quarantine decisions and is in isolation at a Negombo hotel without being in his home in Colombo.
“I am very comfortable at the hotel with good food and service,” says Dr Hemal Fernando who is compelled to be there, while those who came 22 hours after him are spending their quarantine in the comfort of their homes.
It was through the stroke of the pen of the Director-General (DG) of Health Services that some found themselves on “one side” of a circular and in hotel quarantine, and others on the “other side” and in home quarantine.
Questioning the validity of such a decision, Dr Fernando asks: Does the virulence of the Covid-19 virus change at midnight?
It was armed with both doses of the Pfizer vaccine long after the 14 days needed before departure that Dr Fernando left South Pasadena, California for Colombo. Earlier, he had wanted to depart on May 21 but suddenly, the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, was closed, allegedly as a measure against “surging” Covid-19 infections within Sri Lanka.
He was due to come into the country under the tourism bio-bubble and had paid all dues fully.
When a sudden decision was announced by the health authorities that the airport would be opened from June 1 to 30 – another decision that has perplexed him as the infection numbers are still surging – he promptly rescheduled his flight and arrived in Sri Lanka at 2 am on June 5.
The very next day (June 6) came the Health DG’s circular, effective at midnight that day, stipulating the new rule that thereafter Sri Lankans/dual citizens could be quarantined in their homes and not in hotels, if the first RT-PCR done after their arrival and first day in a hotel was negative.
Absolutely no logic or scientific basis for this ‘demarcating timeline’, says Dr Fernando, citing other instances where even those who arrived 15 minutes before 12 midnight on June 6 faced hotel quarantine, while those who arrived 15 minutes after midnight had been allowed to go home. All requests to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) have been futile, with the excuse being that the Health DG has to order his release from hotel quarantine.
“I nearly missed my connecting flight in Doha. If that happened, I would have been home by now. Now I will go home only next Friday (June 18),” said Dr Fernando, mulling over the arbitrary and ad hoc decision-making.