COLOMBO – Sri Lanka recorded three more COVID-19 related fatalities on Monday (16), taking the country’s novel coronavirus death toll to 61, as 382 new cases were confirmed, taking the country’s COVID-19 tally to 17,674.
The Department of Government Information in a statement announcing the multiple deaths, identified the deceased as one female aged 84 from Moratuwa, in the outskirts of Colombo, and two males aged 70 and 75 from Colombo 10 and 13 respectively.
The statement said the female had died at home, and the cause of death was determined to be COVID-19 with diabetes, while the 70-old-male had been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and was being treated at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), where he had died. The cause of death had been determined to be COVID-19 infection with chronic kidney disease and stroke. The second male, aged 75, had died on admission to the National Hospital Colombo and the cause of death has been determined to be aggravation of diabetes and congenital heart disease due to COVID-19 infection.
The statement said Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, had confirmed all three deaths to be COVID-19 related, taking the COVID fatality count to 61.
Forty seven deaths have now been officially recorded since October 24, many of them at home and several on admission to the National Hospital Colombo, since 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. Since then the cluster has seen sub-clusters in several parts of the country, with the largest case load reported from the Peliyagoda fish market. As of Monday, the Minuwangoda/Peliyagoda cluster had recorded 14,170 cases with 382 testing positive for the virus during the course of the day.
According to the Department of Government Information daily update, all the case confirmed Sunday are persons linked to the Peliyagoda cluster and take Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus count to 17,674 with 11,806 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines that don’t require multiple PCR tests, and 5,805 receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
Meanwhile, Maradana, Fort, Pettah, Slave Island and Dam Street in central Colombo were placed under isolation effective 5:00 a.m. Monday until further notice. This is in addition to the areas would be added to the places already under isolation in Colombo.
The National Operations Centre for the Prevention of the spread-of COVID-l9 has said factories under the Board of Investment (BoI) and Exports Development Board (EDB), the courts and other essential government institutions in the areas placed under isolation would be allowed to operate under health guidelines and strict supervision of the health authorities.
-ENCL