Army Commander says working according to strategy to end COVID

Army Commander Lt Gen Shavendra Silva who is also the head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak commenting on the current situation says that “No one can predict that whether it is community transmission or within a cluster” as yet.

“We believe that we can contain this cluster, but who knows, but our wish that it does not go to the society”, he said responding to questions posed by TimesOnline after taking part in an Army event last Saturday.

“But all depends on the people. Any strategy can be brought before the society, but it is the people’s behaviour that decides on where we stand as far as COVID is concerned,” he added.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Q; What are your plans to handle the current COVID situation? 

A: We have a strategy. From the beginning we found the first patient in Sri Lanka we have been following a strategy. We managed to contain the situation in the first 50 days. Here it is the same after we found about 1000 patients affected in one place. Since then we have gone for containment. Thereby we have been enforcing a quarantine curfew in certain places. We have managed to contain the situation. Of course we have found one or two from outside the Gampaha district. That is because workers of that factory (Brandix) had gone out and got connected to the society. We will find more in the future too. We can’t predict how many people we will find. But we the army, with the health sector, SIS have gone on to trace and track whoever we even feel may be infected. We are not only going behind the families who have got COVID, but also those who may get it. We have been successful in the contact tracing. We are very proactive in our work. This is our strategy. We believe there are cases, nevertheless we will try to contain the situation and eradicate COVID from Sri Lanka at the earliest.

Q: It seems like it has reached the community level. What is your opinion?

A: No one can predict that whether it is community transmission or within a cluster. We believe that we can contain this cluster, but who knows, but our wish that it does not go to the society. But all depends on the people. Any strategy can be brought before the society, but it is the people’s behaviour that decides on where we stand as far as COVID is concerned.

Q: More and more persons are coming into quarantine. How do you hope to handle the situation?

A: Those who are supposed to go into quarantine are brought for quarantine. There is criticism also, but we will show the truth soon. There is a video out regarding the short time given to prepare, but we will show the truth and what has happened. The Sri Lanka army is very professional. Along with the health sector we have been professional. There can be criticism. You find different people with different types of agendas. But we are calm. As a professional organisation we will do the best.

Q: All quarantine centres are run by health staff of the security forces. Why isn’t the public health sector getting involved?

A: We would have loved to have them. They are involved in containing not only the COVID in the country. There are other diseases and other various requirements. We have to use them for other day-to-day services. If somebody is willing we are more than happy. 

(Pix and text by Amila Prabodha Gamage)

Army Commander Lt Gen Shavendra Silva at the finals of the Army organized maiden Super League T-20 Cricket tournament held at Sri Lanka Army cricket ground at Dombagoda, Horana, adhering to strict health guidelines on Saturday