Health official urge government to plan for safe relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions
COLOMBO– Government officials must plan for the resumption of economic and other activities in a way that will not allow further spread of COVID-19 if Sri Lanka’s lockdown is to be lifted next Monday (13), a health official said.
Deputy Director Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath, told reporters on Wednesday (8) not planning for a controlled lifting of the ongoing ‘quarantine curfew’ will complicate the government’s plans to reopen the country.
“If government officials across different sectors have by now made and publicized plans for economic and other activities to resume next Monday, we can then be satisfied that it’s okay to lift the lockdown that day,” he said.
Opening the country without doing so may lead to a problematic situation, Herath warned.
Though the daily COVID-19 cases curve has started to flatten by a small gradient, the Delta variant-led epidemic is still raging across the country, with 2,917 new infections and 185 deaths confirmed on Wednesday (8).
Sri Lanka went into lockdown on August 20, which has now been extended twice to September 13. No decision has yet been made on whether the country will reopen that day.
An independent group of experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) Sri Lanka said on August 26 that extending the lockdown to September 18 and October 2 will save 7,500 and 10,000 lives respectively at an economic cost of 1.9% and 2.2% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Though WHO Sri Lanka tried to distance themselves from the expert group’s recommendations, none of the participants came forward to retract the projection.
Herath told reporters at a separate press briefing on Tuesday (7) that it is still too early to make a call. “Authorities will take a decision after further analysis,” he said.
Herath said COVID-19 cannot be contained by imposing restrictions alone.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility. Even with every frontline worker in the health sector and military deployed, we still won’t have enough personnel to cover every town or store in the country. The aim of the quarantine period is a better situation than where we are currently. The goal is a long-term improvement. If one person doesn’t follow the regulations, we will be in this situation for a long time to come,” he said.
On Wednesday, Herath said the government intends to ease restrictions as soon as possible.
“If case numbers are dropping and there is no more spread, it is okay for people to go out. There are a lot of unthinkable ways in which the lockdown is affecting families,” he said.
-economynext.com