11 July 2020 12:00 am
The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) yesterday criticised the government for relaxing health and travel restrictions at public gatherings, public transport and recreational activities, increasing the vulnerability of the country to a resurgence of COVID-19.
It said the country was shifting back to the behaviour of the pre-COVID era as key measures are not adequately applied and monitored by the government.
“It is tremendously disheartening to see what was achieved by a massive campaign to take the country to a new-normal situation being reversed. Most unfortunately, it seems to be complicated by some regressive set of steps that have been taken which could contribute towards dragging the entire country towards the catastrophic status that is akin to that faced by many other nations the world over,” the statement said. The SLMA believes that relaxing of health and travel restrictions have probably paved the way to change the mindset of the people to abandon the very necessary control measures. It said health and travel restrictions such as keeping the much-needed physical distancing, frequent hand washing, etc, are largely disappearing, thereby increasing the risk of viral spread in the community.
“Even proper wearing of masks in public places is not strictly adhered to. Disappearance of those healthy behaviours seems to be largely due to fast relaxation of control measures indicating that the risk of COVID-19 is no more. This false notion is extremely harmful and it will be hard to revert to healthy behaviour in case of a resurgence,” the SLMA said.