Most of Colombo Central isolated from Monday, as 389 test positive for COVID-19
COLOMBO– Large swathes of central Colombo are slated to be placed under isolation effective 5:00 Monday (16), as the novel coronavirus count continued to surge with 389 testing positive for the virus on Saturday (14).
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva identified Maradana, Fort, Pettah, Slave Island and Dam Street as the new areas in Colombo to be added to the existing places under isolation in Colombo. He said areas already under isolation in Colombo, will continue to remain so until further notice, adding that Negombo, Ja-Ela, Ragama, Kadawatha, Wattala, Peliyagoda and Kelaniya will also continue to be placed under isolation. However, he said the isolation orders for all other areas of the district will be lifted from 5:00 a.m. on Sunday (15).
The travel restrictions imposed in the Western Province on Thursday (12) evening, will also be lifted at midnight on Sunday (15), he said.
Meanwhile, the Government Department of Information it its daily COVID-19 update said 389 new cases were confirmed on Saturday, taking Sri Lanka novel coronavirus tally to 16,583, with 11,324 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines that don’t require multiple PCR tests, and 5,303 receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
All 389 cases confirmed on Saturday, the Department said, are linked to the Peliyagoda fish market, taking the Minuwangoda/Peliyagoda cluster to 13,084.
However, Commissioner General of Prisons, Thushara Upuldeniya said 44 inmates at the Boossa Prison had tested positive for the virus on Saturday, taking the novel coronavirus tally in Sri Lanka’s overcrowded prisons 329. A significant number of inmates at Welikada, Kuruwita, Mahara and Old Bogambara prisons were reported to have contracted the virus over the week.
Meanwhile, five COVID-19 related deaths were reported on Friday (13) taking Sri Lanka’s fatality count to 53. The deceased were identified as an 83-year-old woman from Colombo 14, who died at home, a 68-year-old male from Chilaw who died at the Mulleriyawa Base Hospital, a 69-year -old male from Ratmalana area who died to admission to the hospital, and two males aged 78 and 64 from Colombo 13, who died at home.
The cause of death range from diabetes to high blood pressure, chest pain, heart attack and asthma, all aggravated by COVID-19, Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardhana had confirmed all the deaths as COVID-19 related.
Thirty nine deaths have now been officially recorded since October 24, following the emergence of a new and more virulent strain of the virus in a new cluster in Minuwangoda, with the apparel factory in the area as the epicentre earlier in the month.
-ENCL