New coronavirus cluster tops 100; Gampaha residents urged to stay home
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka has so far confirmed 101 persons as COVID-19 positive from a cluster being traced out of an apparel factory in Minuwangoda and authorities are asking people in the densely populated Gampaha district, north of the capital Colombo, to stay home as contacts are traced.
By late afternoon Monday (5) confirmed COVID-19 cases had come from Kurunegala, Monaragala and Jaffna, some from workers who have gone on sick leave. By late night authorities had confirmed 101 persons from Minuwangoda, Katana, Seeduwa, Divulapitiya, Ja-Ela, Mahara and also Mirigama, as workers on leave from a Brandix apparel factory were tested.
“We are still in the early stages of identifying infections,” Chief Epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera told reporters earlier on Monday, urging resident of Gampaha district to limit travel. “Stay at home. We have so far put curfew in three police areas. But we are asking residents of other areas to also limit movement,” he said.
Samaraweera also urged those experiencing cough and fever to get medical treatment, assuring, “From the action we are taking we can control the cluster and contain the spread of the disease.”
However, he acknowledged that Gampaha being one of the most densely populated areas in Sri Lanka was a concern for authorities.
He said contacts of those confirmed on Monday were being traced. “We will have to quarantine and PCR test them as well,” he said, adding, “Then we can see how widespread the cluster is.”
Samaraweera urged anyone who had visited the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda to stay at home and inform public health officials of their connection to the factory.
“Then health officials will decide whether the person should be tested or quarantined,” he added.
The cluster around the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda was discovered when a worker who was being treated at the Gampaha hospital was randomly tested in a procedure used in State hospitals under a protocol followed by health authorities in Sri Lanka.
“We found this cluster due to the net we had cast,” Samaraweera said, deeming it a good development.
However, the index case of the cluster is still not known, indicating there would be other infected persons in the community from whom the virus was introduced to the factory in the first place.
“We do not still know how the virus came to the factory,” Samaraweera said, adding they were still investigating it and warning there was a risk of the disease spreading in the community.
However, he said there was no evidence to say there is community transmission yet, which is a situation where unconnected infected persons turn up from different locations. “We cannot say from the evidence have now that there is such a situation,” he said. “Whether it is spreading in the community will be decided by future PCR tests and the co-operation given by the public.”
Meanwhile, workers who had gone on leave could also take the disease to other districts. “There was a long weekend last week, so some workers had gone home,” Samaraweera said, adding,. “So there may be more infections in their homes.”
Sri Lanka had confirmed 3,513 COVID-19 cases, and recorded 13 deaths.
-economynext.com