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On Tuesday, displaying photographs that showed COVID patients lying on mats along corridors in several key hospitals, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa pointed out that hospitals had run out of beds to treat patients. He sought answers from the Government to a host of questions on how the country coped with the pandemic.

The answers were given on Thursday, with Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi painting a grim picture of the crisis, following the arrival of the more virulent and fast spreading ‘Delta’ variant of the virus.

The number of cases recorded daily had risen to between 2000 and 2500 over the past week from about 1000-1500 in the weeks before, she noted, adding that 591 people had died of COVID during the 10-day period from July 25 to August 3. That period also saw the detection of 21,344 new COVID patients, she revealed. A total of 134,179 PCR tests had been done during this 10-day period.

Minister Wanniarachchi also told the House that the number of patients being treated in hospitals had risen to 30,017 by August 1, up from 23,804 on July 23. The number of COVID patients being treated in Intensive Care Units stood at 164 on August 4. A total of 45,831 children too had been infected by the disease since the start of the pandemic and 14 of them had died, she said.

The minister agreed to a request by United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to brief Parliament on Tuesday of each sitting week about the country’s COVID situation.

While thanking the minister for her response, Mr Premadasa alleged that the Government had imposed various regulations deliberately aimed at keeping the people in the dark about the true extent of the pandemic’s impact. “I urge you to ensure that the people are provided with accurate information about the situation, as concealing facts is a great injustice to the country and its people,” he said.

Mr Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, drawing the Government’s attention to the virus’ different variants that were spreading all over the world, urged the authorities to immediately set about purchasing the necessary stocks of vaccines and oxygen without getting bogged down by procurement procedures. “We have made emergency purchases before. First purchase the stocks from wherever they are available and present the bills to Parliament later for us to approve.”

He also severely criticised the role of the Presidential Task Force on COVID Prevention and once again urged the Cabinet to take over the role in fighting the pandemic. “This is spreading because they have not taken steps to control it. At least the Cabinet is answerable to Parliament. Let them take over that role since this is a matter about people’s lives. We have no intention to politicise it,” the UNP Leader said.

Government MPs, though, accused the opposition, particularly the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) of trying to politicise the pandemic by backing the island-wide protests launched by teachers and those in several other sectors. “You are asking questions from the health minister about the COVID situation. You talk of controlling COVID, but the pandemic is being spread all over the country (through protests) with your blessings,” charged Ports and Shipping Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena.

Hitting back, NPP frontliner Vijitha Herath charged the Government’s failure to take the right decision at the initial stages to control the pandemic had resulted in the situation getting out of control. “The Government should have allocated adequate funds to fight the pandemic in last year’s budget. It failed to do so and is now forced to present supplementary estimates to Parliament asking for funds.”

Mr Herath said it was futile to boast about the country’s vaccination rate now as the Government had no proper mechanism in place to import vaccines when they were required earlier. “If you had imposed a lockdown for about two weeks in April, we wouldn’t be in this tragic situation now. To mask your own failures, you are now trying to pin the blame for the rising COVID numbers on protesting teachers,” he said, pointing his finger at Government benches.

Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam warned that in Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, hospitals were also in danger of being overwhelmed by the pandemic. He appealed to the Government to allow for asymptomatic COVID patients and those with mild symptoms to be treated at home in a bid to free up more beds. The province’s hospitals also lack ICU beds, he added. “There is not a single ICU bed in the Kalmunai RDHS (Regional Director of Health Services) Division while the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital has just 10 ICU beds. The Valachchenai and Kalavanchikudi Base Hospitals have been promised ICU beds and equipment but these are yet to arrive. The Eastern Province has a large population and we need to pay attention to it,” he added.

Prof. Channa Jayasumana, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, rejected the UNP Leader’s allegations concerning the COVID Prevention task force. “From the beginning of the pandemic, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led task force did an enormous amount of work in preventing the pandemic’s spread in the country. The relevant Cabinet ministers, officials and even trade union officials attended the task force’s meetings and were involved in decision making.”

He, however, acknowledged that the current situation was grave, saying that “people were dropping dead.”

“We have seen a rapid increase over the past few days in the number of patients requiring oxygen. Almost all locally manufactured oxygen stocks are now being utilised to treat these patients. We hope to import more oxygen stocks from India and Singapore in the next two weeks,” he said, rebuffing allegations that the Government had not taken the pandemic seriously enough.

Given the gravity of the situation, he called on teachers and union leaders to take a step back and suspend their protest marches at least until the Government’s vaccination drive was completed.

Fisheries State Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, meanwhile, warned that an island-wide lockdown, which could be necessitated due to protests launched with the opposition’s backing, would make an already bad situation far worse.

“While the entire public sector workforce comprising 1.8-1.9 million employees will have their salaries deposited to their bank accounts even in the event of a lockdown, what happens to other citizens who have no such guaranteed salary or means of income?” he questioned. He claimed the opposition must take responsibility if the country’s healthcare system collapsed under the strain of high COVID numbers brought on by street protests.

SJB MP Harin Fernando pointed out that Sri Lanka’s COVID death toll had now surpassed that of China, where the virus was first detected. He also pointed out that several MPs from both sides had also tested positive for COVID this week. “Those in the Government won’t take this disease seriously until they or their family members become infected,” he said.

Parliament will meet again on August 17.