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Health officials have repeatedly  alerted the country to the possibility of a surge in Covid 19 afflicted patients and urged the public to heed health guidelines as well as take the booster dose in order to ensure that the situation does not worsen.

According to the Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath the number of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases has increased with the spread of the Omicron variant.

Dr. Herath said that the number of COVID-19 cases was also rising. During the past few months, the daily cases ranged  between 500 and 600, he said. However, during the past few days the number had exceeded 800.

“In the past few weeks, people travelled a lot. There were many public gatherings across the country. People have completely forgotten that COVID-19 is still a threat. We will see the results of this in the coming days and weeks,” he said.

The Health Ministry’s Covid 19 Coordinator Dr. Anwar Hamdani has also cautioned that since Omicron is becoming the dominant variant in Sri Lanka surpassing Delta, public movement should be minimised in order to prevent a massive outbreak in the country.

Dr. Anwar Hamdani said people should be prudent at this crucial juncture and make sure they restrict their movements.

Dr. Hamdani has pointed out that the sudden increase in number of COVID cases could be an indication that Omicron is rapidly spreading in the country and that people should take the necessary precautions.He urged members of the public to wear a mask properly and get the booster dose as soon as possible.

The Omicron variant was discovered in South Africa just over a month ago.

While the public response to the Health authorities’ request to observe health guidelines has been largely positive there are other areas of improvement  that need to be made in order to keep the situation in check. While most members of the public do wear masks in public one is not sure how much of the masks are regularly changed.

The uninformed maybe wearing the same mask for weeks if not months thus rendering the masks ineffective.  Raising awareness of the importance of changing masks regularly  is therefore critical.

Also the Government should take steps to provide adequate public transport facilities for the people to follow health guidelines. Often one witnesses crowded buses and trains carrying large numbers of people without regard to Health guidelines.

This situation gets aggravated when there are unannounced strikes which result in people clinging to every foothold in public buses and trains.

Some of the Health guidelines themselves contribute to facilitating the violation of the rules regarding social distancing.

One of the basic rules in containing the pandemic has been to ensure that large crowds are not allowed to gather for any purpose. However musical shows are allowed and other events where it is difficult to maintain social distancing is allowed. This gives the wrong message to the public who then become complacent and do not adhere to the health guidelines strictly.

Another instance of authorities working counter to Health guidelines is the promotion of site seeing tours of the Port City which results in large social distancingless groups gathering and moving about in the permitted areas.

With Health authorities identifying the threat to the spread of  Covid 19 emerging from the Omicron variant detected in South Africa, the obvious thing to do would be to tighten control at the entry points to the country in order to ensure that the screening is done adequately at the Airports so that Omicron cannot enter the country.

But according to the different reports emerging it is questionable whether the screening at Airports is done in a fool proof way. There were reports that PCR and Rapid Antigen Testing is lax or not done during certain hours late at night or in the early hours of the morning.

There are other reports of visitors to the country  being detected with Covid 19 within 24 hours of their arrival again raising doubts of the efficacy of the screening process at the Airport.

Other concerns have also been raised by Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) manning the Airports who have threatened to withdraw from the Bandaranaike International Airport unless remedial steps are taken.

The Head of the PHIs Union Upul Rohana has alleged that  a large number of foreigners and Sri Lankans from abroad arriving in the country do not adhere to health guidelines and thereby put the PHIs and health staffers at risk.

He stated that six of their members who were working at BIA had tested positive for coronavirus recently.

Thus, they are putting health workers and other staffers at risk.

The complaints about foreigners not adhering to health guidelines by not wearing masks is increasingly heard from Tourist Hotels in the country. Locals who stay at these hotels confirm that it is they who wear masks while most foreigners do not.

Either the tourists are not aware of the Health guidelines prevailing in the country or are indifferent to such guidelines. Unless these guidelines are strictly enforced all the good work done by the Health Authorities will be in vain.

One way in which awareness can be raised among the foreigners arriving in the country is by announcements by the flight staff on the prevailing Health regulations in the country. Another way of addressing the issue is to make the management of Hotels responsible for persuading the tourists to follow the guidelines.

The Health Authorities should also take care to vet the countries from which tourists are allowed to enter. Media reports of the source of tourist arrivals show that some of the countries from which tourists arrive are high in Covid 19 prevalence. It is reported that in China when there are signs of an increase in the incidence of Covid 19 all foreign arrivals are immediately banned.

Given the parlous state of the country’s  economy it may not be possible to impose such stringent restrictions here. But equally that is not a reason to let down the country’s guard and allow a new variant of Covid 19 to sneak into the country. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)