Two prison inmates among 7 COVID-19 fatalities
182 new cases added to the prison cluster; virus tally tops 27,000
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka recorded seven more COVID-19 related fatalities on Saturday (5), two of them prison inmates, taking the country’s novel coronavirus death toll to 137. Saturday also saw a spike in the number of COVID-19 confirmations, with the authorities acknowledging a prison- cluster for the first time.
The Department of Government Information in a statement announcing the multiple deaths identified the deceased as four females and three males, with three of the deaths occurring at home.
Of the female deaths, a 56-year-old from Dematagoda had died of COVID-19 related pneumonia while receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Angoda; an 81-year-old from Bandaragama had died at her residence, with the cause of death determined to be acute lung infection and a heart condition complicated by COVID-19 infection; an 84-year-old from Colombo 13 had also died at her residence, with the cause of death determined to be COVID-pneumonia; and a 62-year-old from Wellampitiya, had died at the IDH of multiple organ failure due to complications from COVID-pneumonia, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Of the males, a 91-year -old from Bandaragama had died at his residence and the cause of death had been determined to be COVID-infection related cardiac arrest, while two prison inmates aged 53 and 66 had died of COVID-pneumonia, the former at the prison premises and the latter at the prison hospital.
The statement said Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, had confirmed all seven deaths to be COVID-19 related, taking the COVID fatality count to 137.
One hundred and twenty four 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. 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 Saturday, a prison cluster had been added to the Minuwangoda/Peliyagoda cluster, which had expanded to 23,674 cases.
According to the Department of Government Information daily update, 182 of the 669 Saturday’s confirmations are from the prison cluster, though all are linked to the Peliyagoda cluster and take Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus count to 27,228, with 20,090 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines and 7,001 receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
-ENCL