COLOMBO – Sri Lanka Sunday (11) confirmed 124 new cases of the novel coronavirus case, 121 of them linked to the Minuwangoda cluster, and announced two villages in the Northeastern Mannar district were placed under lockdown until further notice.
Sunday’s confirmation takes the country’s COVID-19 tally to 4,752 cases. Of the new confirmations 87 are staff of the Minuwangoda Brandix plant and 34 are close associates and include three doctors and four monks. The total number of patients reported from the Minuwangoda cluster has increased to 1307, the largest cluster yet.
The Department of Government Information quoting Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army and head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), said the villages of Pattitottam and Periyakadai in the Mannar district had been named as isolated villages until further notice.
The NOCPCO said five persons were found positive in the area on Saturday (10). The Mannar Bishop’s house was isolated earlier in the week after a carpenter employed for some repair work tested positive. According to the NOCPCO, he had been previously employed at a construction site in Kirillawella, in Gampaha.
According to military spokesman Colonel Vijitha Hettiarchchi, the five confirmed cases are colleagues of the carpenter.
Several areas in Gampaha, including Gampaha town have been placed under police curfew since Tuesday (7).
Meanwhile, education authorities held the Grade 5 Scholarship exams for 331,694 students in 2,936 centres across the island on Sunday, with 12 special examination centres set up for students in the Gampaha district, several areas of which are under lockdown.
The three-week long Advanced Level exams are scheduled to begin from Monday (12) with over 364,761 students scheduled to sit for the exams across the country. Authorities said special arrangements have been made for students from areas under lock down and students in quarantine.
Silva meanwhile said curfews in the Gampaha police divisions will continue until further notice imposed and added that the military was ready to expand quarantine facilities. Sri Lanka has also slowed repatriation flights to reduce pressure on the quarantine facilities.
Separately, the Ministry of Health on Sunday urged patients with chronic diseases and the elderly, not to attend hospital clinics until further notice, deeming them of being at a higher risk of getting COVID-I9 due to the congestion at clinic setups.
Dr. S. Sridharan, Director General of Health Services (Acting), in a statement on Sunday, said arrangements were being made to home deliver the medicinal drugs from Tuesday (13), and the process will commence in the Gampaha and Colombo districts and expanded islandwide. He advised patients to visit the emergency treatment units of the closest hospital, at any time if they experience warning signs of the disease.
The ministry also advised general public not to panic and requested fullest support to combat the current COVID-19 situation.
-ENCL