Opposition happy with escalation of COVID cases, deaths: Dilum

Responding to the statements made by the opposition is a waste of time because they are very happy with the vast increase in COVID positive cases and the death toll in the country, Transport State Minister Dilum Amunugama said.

He made these remarks to a question raised by a journalist that the opposition claimed that the government was giving priority to intelligence services while not listening to the health authorities to go into a lock-down situation.

"It is a pity that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world with such an opposition. However, they should be mindful that they are the opposition, not  the government. We were given the power by the people to make this country better," he said.

Therefore, the decision to assign the intelligence services or the health sector is made by the government. 

However, all decisions will be taken by the health authorities. 

The word intelligence was used by the opposition because of the appointment of Army Commander Shavendra Silva as the Head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO). He is the only army officer in the NOCPCO and all the other members are from the health services. The Head of the Committee is the President.

Imposing lockdowns or not is a decision of the health authorities, he said. 

"It is something that the Opposition has always done to scold us when we are doing a good job. If the opposition was in the government, we could see what would happen to the country, "the State Minister added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)