Govt. provides Rs.200Mn more to fight COVID19

By Sandun A Jayasekera   

The government has injected a further Rs.200 million to the fight against COVID19 while the number of infected patients among Navy personnel and expatriate Sri Lankans returning to Sri Lanka kept the numbers increasing. 

Director General of Health Services (DGHS), Dr. Anil Jasinghe confirmed the allocation of the Rs.200 million amid the Health Ministry and the armed forces struggling to provide quarantine facilities to the rapidly increasing number of those tested positive to COVID19.   

The Health Ministry is also exploring the possibility of referring all incoming air passengers to PCR tests on arrival and that at the moment the returnees are being tested at the quarantine centres.   
Dr. Jasinghe said the detection of 61 new COVID19-infected patients on Thursday night had increased the number of patients to 1,530.   
“Among the 61 detected, 26 are navy personnel and those who had come in contact with them, 18  returnees from Kuwait and 17 from Dubai. They were at the quarantine centres at the time of detection,” he said. Currently there are 5,169 people at 440 quarantine centres.   
Health Minister Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi accompanied by Civil Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga visited the BIA and instructed the officials to extend the facilities for screening of all incoming passengers before directing them to the quarantine centres.   

The Consultant Physician of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Dr. Eranga Narangoda said two COVID19 patients were at the ICU with one of them in a critical condition while the other’s health condition was improving.   

Meanwhile, 754 patients had recovered with 766 still remaining under treatment at the various hospitals.   
District wise the figures are as follows: 150 patients in hospitals in the Colombo District, 36 in Gampaha, 35 in Puttalam, 34 in Kalutara, 13 in Kandy, 11 in Kurunegala, seven in Jaffna, five in Ratnapura, four in Kegalle and Monaragala, two each in Anuradhapura, Kalmunai and Matale, and one each in Badulla, Matara, Galle, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa Districts.

• Among the 61 detected, 26 are navy personnel and those who had come in  contact with them, 18  returnees from Kuwait and 17 from Dubai. They  were at the quarantine centres at the time of detection