Accelerate vaccination rollout to combat COVID pandemic: Health Minister

As there is an escalation in the COVID pandemic spread in the country, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella advised the officials to accelerate the vaccination programme to control the situation.

He said many countries around the world have been in a severe crisis in the face of this pandemic situation. The Minister said that as our country was able to control it through successful vaccination process, those methods should be used very actively.

The Minister expressed these views during a discussion held at the Ministry regarding the current spread of COVID and dengue in the country.

He said the President had advised the Health Ministry to pay more attention to the current COVID pandemic situation and not to escalate the situation like in previous pandemic situations.

During the discussion, the Minister advised the health authorities to take action to control the situation, starting from the district and provincial medical officer levels.

In particular, the minister advised the authorities to make people aware of the health guidelines when visiting the Kandy Esala Perahera without getting disturbed by the tourism industry.

The Minister added that special attention was drawn to protecting the schoolchildren infected by dengue and advised to implement special programmes for the eradication of the virus. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)