COLOMBO – Sri Lanka on Tuesday (8) recorded a tragic first, the COVID-19 related death of 20-day-old infant from Mattakuliya, who is said to have succumbed to virus related pneumonia at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital in Colombo.
Health authorities confirmed the infant, who was born at De Soyza Maternity hospital, was admitted to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children on Monday (7) night and initially diagnosed as suffering from severe pneumonia. A PCR test had confirmed the baby to be COVID-19 positive.
Director of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Dr. G. Wijesuriyam, is quoted in the local media as saying the infant was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.
According to knowledgeable sources, the infant, who had been healthy at the time of its birth, had become unwell a few days after leaving the hospital and had been under the care of the area doctor. The parents had brought the baby to the Lady Ridgeway for further care on Monday night.
At the time of admission, the infant as well the parents had been subjected to PCR tests. The parents’ test had come back negative, but the infant, who had passed away by then, had tested positive. A request for a second PCR test had been denied.
The parents have also claimed the officials wanted their consent to cremate the body, but that they had refused to do so.
Meanwhile, Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) has been reportedly advised to cremate the unclaimed bodies of those who had succumbed to the novel coronavirus, as it was not feasible to keep them at the Colombo Mortuary any longer.
Reportedly, almost all the bodies are of Muslims, whose families have refused to give their consent or pay for cremation, the government mandated disposal of the COVID-dead.
Contrary to World Health Organization guidelines and scientific research, the government has refused to consider burial of the COVID-dead, claiming with no scientific evidence that doing so would lead to contamination of the groundwater and lead to further spread of the virus.
According to reports, the CMC has been advised to cremate the bodies at its own expense.
Earlier, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed the bodies be cremated at government expense, but the issue of non-consent has compelled the authorities to seek the Attorney General’s intervention.
Deputy Director General of Public Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath, has said the health ministry is prepared to issue a Gazette notification on cremating the unclaimed bodies on the directive of the Attorney General.
As the unclaimed bodies pile up, Sri Lanka’s novel cornavirus death toll has risen to 142, with multiple deaths recorded on a daily basis following the emergence of a new and more virulent strain of the virus in a new cluster in Minuwangoda in early October. 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 (5), a prison cluster was added to the Minuwangoda/Peliyagoda cluster, which expanded to 25,822 with 797 new cases confirmed as COVID-19 positive on Tuesday.
According to the Department of Government Information daily update, 230 of the 797 confirmations are from the prison cluster, though all are linked to the Peliyagoda cluster. The confirmations take Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus count to 29,378, with 20,804 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines and 7,978 receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
-ENCL