Naval ratings among the new COVID-19 cases reported

• Yesterday we did 1,681 PCR tests and only one was positive among them

By Sandun A. Jayasekera   

With the detection of 13 new infected cases among the naval ratings at Welisara Naval detachment and three of their relatives, the number of COVID-19 infections have surged to 718 by yesterday. 

However, Director General Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe said there were no other infections reported other than navy men and their relatives and as such the country was rapidly returning to normalcy and added the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic had been passed in the country. Ten patients have been discharged after full recovery.   
Out of the 15 new detections, 10 naval ratings who were on leave and two were from a quarantine centre in Matale and three were relatives of infected Navy men.   

”Yesterday we did 1,681 PCR tests and only one was positive among them. A majority of the PCR tests were conducted at the MRI and our target is to increase the number of tests to 3,000 per day,” Dr. Jasinghe said.   
The Consultant Physician of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) Dr. Eranga Narangoda said, five COVID-19 patients were released yesterday from the NIID after full recovery bringing the number of patients recovered to 184 and the total number of confirmed hospitalisations to 527.     Two patients were admitted to the NIID yesterday while the NIID had its full capacity of 148 COVID-19 patients. There were no patients at the ICU of the NIID, he added.