Sri Lanka to keep coronavirus patients at home, as 21 deaths, 2,275 new cases confirmed
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka will begin to keep infected asymptomatic coronavirus confirmed patients at home, State Minister for COVID-19 control Sudarshini Fernandopulle said as new confirmations outpace the rate at which treatment centres could be built.
Patients developing respiratory difficulties will be hospitalized, she said, as 21 Covid-related fatalities were recorded on Sunday (16), taking the death toll to 962.
The number of new COVID-19 confirmations also remained above the 2000 mark with 2275 cases confirmed on Sunday, taking the virus count to 142,746. Of the total cases confirmed on Sunday, 2212 were attributed to the New Year cluster.
“From Monday (17) we plan to begin home management of asymptomatic patients,” Fernandopulle said, elaborating that if symptoms worsen needing medical care they will be admitted to hospital.
Sri Lanka had 19,944 patients in hospitals or treatment centres on Saturday (15), the health ministry said, noting that the total was adjusted down from 24,796 a day earlier in a one off correction of patients in private facilities whose discharges were not accounted for previously. However, the government’s covid19.gov.lk website recorded the number receiving treatment at various designated hospitals and hotels as 24,424.
Sri Lanka is seeing high number of patients developing Covid pneumonia attributed to the fast spreading UK virus variant.
Minister Fernandopulle had said earlier that guidelines were being prepared for home management of coronavirus patients.
Sri Lanka has imposed tighter movement controls at least until May 31 involving nightly curfews and limiting persons from going out of the house to every other day based on the last digit of their indentify card number.
Home management had been followed in Western nations, which saw the rapid spread of the virus, while successful East Asian nations operated both institutional quarantine of contacts with quick tracing, and institutional treatment of patients to preventing leaks and brining outbreaks to zero.
Singapore last week imposed a lockdown after 80 cases were discovered and the country was unable to find index cases. Vietnam is currently battling an outbreak with over 300 confirmed cases , believed to have been a leak from two Indian expatriates, who underwent quarantine.
Unlike Western nations Sri Lanka is still tracing contacts, but they are being placed under home quarantine with the country no longer having the capacity for institutional quarantine. Most quarantine centres for contacts have been turned into treatment centres.
Sri Lanka’s current wave is driven by a potent UK variant which started spreading after a traditional New Year was celebrated in April with people going shopping and travelling around the country and holding festivals in Nuwara Eliya.
It is not clear how the UK variant entered the country, but Sri Lanka earlier in 2021, allowed vaccinated returnees to home quarantine. It is not clear what role vaccination has played in the current wave.
-ENCL/economynext.com