16 May 2020 12:09 am
Chief of Defense Staff and Army Commander Lt. General Shavendra Silva yesterday made an appeal to those who have been under quarantine in locked down areas to maintain further self quarantine in their respective residences, saying the final victory against the dreaded Covid-19 was not too far.
The last three cluster of homes that were prohibited entry or exit for nearly a month at Ja-Ela, Suduwella and Bandaranayaka Mawatha in Colombo 12 were opened yesterday.
“Not a single cluster of homes or a village remains closed right now in the country. But I would like to make an appeal to residents of these places to be watchful and follow health and security instructions for another few weeks, as the Covid-19 threat has not been fully controlled and is still there,” General Silva stressed.
He paid tribute to the cooperation given by the public to prevent the escalation of the viral infection into epidemic proportions in the country and added that the final victory against the dreaded Covid 19 was not too far.
A total of 8,447 men and women have been subjected to quarantine up to yesterday and 3,664 of them were those who returned from overseas.
The total of Covid-19 infections in the country surged to 925 yesterday with 10 new cases found on Tuesday.
Out of 10 who tested positive, eight were Navy personnel and the other two have had close contacts with the affected Naval personnel.
The Consultant Physician of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) Dr. Eranga Narangoda said there were two new admissions of Covid-19 patients to the NIID and two patients were released after full recovery, bringing the number of patients fully recovered to 382 and the total number of confirmed hospitalisations to 498.
Districtwise, there were 150 patients with viral infections in hospitals in the District of Colombo yesterday, 36 in Gampaha, 35 in Puttalam, 34 in Kalutara, 13 in Kandy, 11 in Kurunegala, seven in Jaffna, five in Ratnapura, four each in Kegalle and Moneragala, two each in Anuradhapura, Matale and Kalmunai, one each in Badulla, Matara, Galle, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa Districts totalling the number of those under hospital treatment at 824.