Sri Lanka reports first death of medical practitioner due to COVID-19
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s health authorities on Tuesday (2) said a 32-year-old doctor who was on the frontline of treating COVID-19 patients had died after battling the virus for over a week, making it the first death of a medical practitioner to be reported in the country.
Health officials said a team of medical experts was treating the young doctor, identified as Dr. Gayan Danthanarayana, but his situation deteriorated and he was transferred to the intensive care unit at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in Galle, where he passed away on Tuesday morning.
A statement from the Department of Government Information, said the cause death was determined to be acute Covid pneumonia, high blood pressure and asthma.
The doctor was practicing at the Ragama Hospital, in Colombo, designated a COVID-19 treatment facility, at the time he was diagnosed at COVID-19 positive.
His family has been placed in quarantine, health officials said.
Sri Lanka has to date reported 330 deaths from the virus, with seven fatalities, including Dr. Danthanarayana, reported on Tuesday.
Among the fatalities on Tuesday were a 18-month old baby boy from Colombo 2, who died while undergoing treatment at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s hospital, and four females aged 67, 82,73 and 80 from Weligama, Colombo 15, Waththegama and Nittambuwa.
Meanwhile, 715 new cases were confirmed as COVID-19 positive on Tuesday taking Sri Lanka virus tally to 65,698, with 59,043 being deemed recovered and discharged under the new health ministry guidelines.
Sri Lanka last week kicked off the country’s first vaccination program against the COVID-19 pandemic by inoculating frontline health workers and security personnel involved in battling the pandemic. Health officials said 95,550 had received the Covishield jab as of Tuesday and that there were only around 50,000 frontliners to be vaccinated in the health sector.
– xinhuanet/ENCL