Govt. to convert more hospitals to coronavirus centres as infections outpace recoveries
COLOMBO – The government is set to take-over more hospitals and rapidly convert them to coronavirus treatment centres as confirmed infections continued to outpace recoveries.
While daily recoveries have hovered around 500, new cases have been ranging between 500 and 600, and sometimes more a day, raising concerns about hospital capacities.
The Ministry of Health in a statement Wednesday (16) said, following a meeting of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), it had been decided to take over hospitals that can treat a large number of people and convert them for COVID-19 treatment.
The statement said funds for the conversion will be allocated by the Ministry of Health with the assistance of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Total cases under treatment which ranged around 6,000 in November have now climbed to near 9000 official data show.
Three hundred and twenty six new cases were reported in the early part on Wednesday, adding the 622 cases detected on Tuesday (15), taking Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus tally to over 34,447. Three fatalities were also reported on Wednesday, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 157.
A total of 25,652 have been deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines and 8,638 were receiving treatment at various designated hospitals across the country.
The new and more virulent strain of the virus emerged when new cluster in Minuwangoda was discovered in early October, with the apparel factory in the area as the epicentre. Since then the cluster has seen sub-clusters in several parts of the country, including a prison cluster, with the largest case load reported from the Peliyagoda fish market.
-economynext.com/ENCL