26 February 2020 12:05 am
Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, yesterday called on the government to remain vigilant over the COVID-19 outbreak saying the virus had already spread to several countries, causing a severe impact on the global health and economic sectors.
Namal told Daily Mirror that while Sri Lanka had taken commendable efforts in preventing the spread of the virus, more preventive measures are needed to be taken as the virus was spreading beyond control.
“From China, the virus has spread to countries such as South Korea, Japan and even Italy. We have to remain vigilant while Chinese tourism decreased in Sri Lanka due to the coronavirus outbreak, Sri Lanka depends on the European markets, which has also now to a certain extent been hit by the virus,” Namal said. He said globally, countries needed to come together to strengthen preventive measures in order to minimize the spread of the virus globally and look at ways in how the global economy could also remain well protected.
Sri Lanka has so far reported one confirmed case of the coronavirus with the patient discharged last week after being successfully cured. Three suspected cases continue to seek treatment at the IDH and a local hospital, the Health Ministry said.