As cases continues to surge topped the 300 mark in just 48 hours, the Government yesterday placed the Gampaha District under curfew to contain COVID-19 after fresh cases popped up at critical economic centres.
According to the Sri Lanka Police, curfew was imposed at 10 p.m. last night and will continue until 5 a.m. on Monday in the 33 Police jurisdictions belonging to the Gampaha District. Curfew is also in place in the Kuliyapitiya, Pannala, Giriulla, Narammala, and Dummalasuriya Police Jurisdictions until further notice.
Police Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana yesterday stated that movement restrictions will be strictly imposed in these areas, with roadblocks being set up. While vehicles can travel through the areas, they cannot make any stops.
“There are several BOI factories located in the Gampaha District. These factories can operate in accordance with guidelines and advice of health authorities. However, they are required to operate a transport service when bringing in employees to factory premises,” DIG Ajith Rohana said.
He explained that persons working in essential services like water supply, electricity, communication, airport services, and media can use their identification cards to travel in curfew-imposed areas. People accessing health services but do not display symptoms of COVID-19 can do so while curfew is imposed.
Movement restrictions will not apply to students sitting for their Advanced Level examinations, the Police Spokesperson said, adding that invigilators and examination centre staff can use their letters of service and NIC as a curfew pass.
Legal action will be taken against any person gathering near their house, leaving the house and travelling on streets, or meeting to play various sports, DIG Ajith Rohana said.
Several areas in the Kalutara District were also declared isolated towns until further notice. This includes the Bellana Grama Niladhari Division in the Palinda Nuwara Divisional Secretariat and the Agalawatta, Gorakgoda, Beragama, Dapiligoda, and North Kekulanda Grama Niladhari Divisions in the Agalawatta Divisional Secretariat.
The measures come with 166 COVID-19 cases identified yesterday, of which 94 are staff or associates of the garment manufacturing facility in Minuwangoda. These individuals were at quarantine centres at the time of testing positive. With 23 contacts and 49 persons from the Peliyagoda Fish Market also testing positive yesterday, the Divulapitiya cluster has expanded to 2,506 cases.
Cases from the Peliyagoda Fish Market were identified after a vendor tested positive, resulting in 105 individuals being subjected to PCR tests. The premises were temporarily shut down yesterday. Meanwhile, the Manning Market will be closed until 5 a.m. on Monday.
Explaining the reason behind the decision to test vendors at the Peliyagoda Fish Market, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said: “Investigations on the contacts of patients identified from the garment manufacturing facility in Minuwangoda revealed that a considerable number of first contacts had visited the market. Due to this, we wanted to identify if vendors at the market contracted the virus from these persons and that is why tests were carried out.”
Responding to a question on the possibility of this being a new cluster, Dr. Samaraweera said a decision on the matter can only be taken depending on investigations revealing if the vendors contracted the virus from employees of the Minuwangoda facility or through another way.
Meanwhile, operations were suspended in the Fort Police Station for a short period yesterday after an officer attached to the Western Province Special Investigation Unit located in the premises tested positive for the virus.
According to DIG Ajith Rohana, there are 12 officers attached to the unit and the remaining 11 officers have been directed to quarantine centres. “The 48 officers in the Fort Police Station at the time and other officers who worked on previous days have been directed for self-quarantine,” he added.
COVID-19 patients have also been identified from various parts of the island and Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Editor Dr. Haritha Aluthge said that patients have been identified from over 21 districts in the country.
“Several sub-clusters have emerged in various areas of the country. We have been able to find connections between these and the Divulapitiya cluster but in some instances, a connection is not apparent. That is the nature of this disease,” he said.
Dr. Aluthge added: “Patients are found from the community, which is why this is a serious situation. The chances of this developing into community spread is higher than ever before.”
However, he went on to comment that what was important at present was taking decisions about various regions as opposed to enforcing nationwide lockdown.
With the patients identified yesterday, the number of cumulative confirmed cases identified in the island currently stands at 5,977, of which 1,455 are Sri Lankan returnees from abroad, 950 are Navy personnel and their close contacts, 651 are from the Kandakadu cluster, and 101 are foreigners.
There are 2,406 active cases in the country. According to the Epidemiology Unit, 487 persons are currently receiving treatment at the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital, 228 persons are currently at the Kamburugamuwa Hospital, 172 persons are at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (NIID), and 155 persons are at the Kattankudy Hospital.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 recoveries rose to 3,501 with 44 persons being discharged from hospitals yesterday. This includes 16 from the Hambantota District General Hospital, 13 from the Homagama Base Hospital, five from the Colombo East Base Hospital, three from the NIID, and two from Laggala Pallegama.
According to the Health Promotion Bureau, 406,466 OCR tests have been carried out in the island to date, including 8,270 on Tuesday. “In the past week alone, over 30,000 PCR tests were carried out for community sampling. It is through this that we can study if there has been community transmission and we will continue to carry out this procedure,” Health Ministry Deputy Director General of Public Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said.
He added that 23 treatment centres have been established in the country, with a bed capacity of 2,587. However, arrangements have already been made to expand this capacity by converting several hospitals in the island to COVID-19 treatment centres.
In addition to this, the National Operation Centre for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) said 510 persons left quarantine centres yesterday, bringing the total number of persons to leave centres to 55,432.
The NOCPCO added that 8,323 persons are currently undergoing quarantine at 74 centres in the country, of which 63 are managed by the Sri Lanka Army, seven are managed by the Sri Lanka Navy, and four are managed by the Sri Lanka Air Force.
(FT)