2nd Parliament correspondent tests COVID-19 positive, as 239 new cases reported
COLOMBO – A 2nd Parliament correspondent who covered the 20th Amendment debate last week is reported to have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as Sri Lanka recorded 239 new cases on Saturday (Oct 31), taking the country’s COVID-19 tally to 10,663.
The National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPOC) confirmed on Saturday that a second journalist, attached to a Sinhala language daily, who covered the 20th Amendment debate on October 21 and 22 had tested COVID-19 positive
Wijeya Newspapers on Thursday (29) confirmed that a parliamentary reporter from the Sunday Times had tested positive for COVID-19. Later the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health urged journalists who covered the parliamentary sessions to self-quarantine immediately and inform the Public Health Inspector or the Medical Officer of Health about the places where they are being self-quarantined.
NOCPOC also confirmed that six police officers from the Borella police station, two personnel from the Ministry of Media including an Executive Officer and two from the Department of Government Information had tested positive for the virus on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Department of Government Information in its daily COVID-19 update on Saturday, said 239 new cases were recorded up to 9:35 p.m., taking the country’s novel coronavirus tally to 10,663 and expanding the Minuwangoda/Peliyagoda cluster to 7,185.
Of Saturday’s confirmed cases180 are directly linked to the Peliyagoda fish market cluster and the rest are from quarantine centres.
According to the Ministry of Health Sri Lanka has 6244 active cases being treated in hospitals, while 4,399 have been deemed fully recovered and 20 have succumbed to the virus.
-ENCL