Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 toll reaches 2,900
COLOMBO– Seven new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed by 7:30 p.m. Monday (17), taking Sri Lanka’s novel coronavirus count to 2,900. All seven are recent arrivals from the Middle East, two of from Oman and five from the United Arab Emirates.
According to the Ministry of Health, all those who were confirmed as being COVID-19 positive have been under quarantine.
Meanwhile, six patients deemed recovered were discharged from various hospitals, taking the tally of recoveries to 2,676 cases. Two hundred and thirteen people are receiving treatment at present and 11 have succumbed to the virus.
A total of 68 Sri Lankans stranded abroad arrived in the country Monday morning, among them 36 from Qatar, 29 from Chennai, India, and three from Narita, Japan. The National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 said all the returnees were directed to quarantine centres controlled by the tri-forces.
At present 5,333 people reported to be undergoing the quarantine process in 46 quarantine centres controlled by the tri-forces.
Separately, Health authorities said they have increased the number of random PCR tests carried out island-wide from this month, with around 1,080 PCR tests conducted on August 16.
-ENCL