Brandix cluster records 1,036 cases in Sri Lanka’s biggest virus outbreak

Possible COVID-19 death being investigated

Glocal
By Editor_1
The entrance of Brandix garment factory at Minuwangoda, near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, where over 1,000 workers tested positive for COVID-19 making it the biggest outbreak of the virus in the country - Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
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COLOMBO – Sri Lanka is battling a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a fresh cluster that emerged over the weekend around an apparel factory recording 1,034 confirmed cases – the single largest yet in the island, on Wednesday (7).

Doctors in the Gampaha area are also investigating whether a 64-year old woman from Yakkala, who died minutes after she was admitted to the Galkanda Quarantine Centre on Wednesday,  died of COVID-19.

Col Vijitha Hettiarachchi, spokesman for the National Operating Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPOC), said a swab has been taken from the deceased woman and a post mortem examination is being conducted.

“Doctors suspect that she died due to COVID-19 as her daughter had tested positive,” he added.

The number of COVID-19 positive cases detected at the Brandix plant in Minuwangoda, Gampaha, rose to 1,034 with 196 new patients confirmed on Wednesday,  six of them by 7:30 p.m.  A statement from the Department of Government Information said, five of the new cases are employees of the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda and the sixth is a close associate.

The cluster began with the confirmation of a 39-year-old supervisor at the factory as COID-19 positive late Saturday (3). Aggressive testing of the employee’s direct contacts has subsequently confirmed the spread of the disease within the factory. Authorities have yet to determine where the supervisor contracted the virus.

With the new cases, total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the island has risen to 4,459, with  140 individuals under investigation and  1,172 active cases in hospital.

At least one health official has confirmed community transmission of the virus in the country. Former Director,  Medical Research Institute (MRI), Dr, Jayaruwan Banadara told a private television news network on Monday (5) that the virus had been in the community for the past few months outside the clusters identified by the health officials. Dr Bandara was removed from his position as MRI Director on Tuesday (6), but no official reason was given.

Sri Lanka had managed to largely contain the spread of the virus, with no confirmed reports of community transmission until this week. The country held a parliamentary election in August with a 76% turnout and no reports of an outbreak as a result.

Of the total 1,172  active cases in the island as of Wednesday, 132 are Sri Lankans repatriated from abroad.

The number of confirmed cases from the Brandix cluster appears to be growing rapidly as testing continues. A Brandix employee from the company’s Welisara plant also tested positive on Wednesday, a spokesman said.

In other related developments, a member of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) janitorial staff also tested positive for the virus earlier Wednesday. According to BIA officials all staff were set to undergo PCR testing on Wednesday.

Army chief and head of the pandemic task force Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva told reporters on Wednesday the BIA staffer had visited a Brandix hostel in Minuwangoda, where apparel workers who are now undergoing treatment for the virus, had been staying. The Royal Colombo Golf Club, too, temporarily closed down its operations on Wednesday, after the daughter of a gardener tested positive for COVID-19.

Police curfew was imposed in 18 police areas in the Gampaha district. Authorities have yet to announce lockdown measures in other parts of the country including Colombo district, though PCR tests are being conducted at the Brandix headquarters in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3. The human resource team at the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda is said to have visited the Kollupitiya head office, though no staff member has tested positive yet, a spokesman for NOCPOC said.

-ENCL/economynext.com

Editor_1
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