At present there are 105,914 cases of Kovid infected in Sri Lanka, according to the Government Information Department. The death toll has come close to 700. Over the past five days, the number of patients reported daily has exceeded 1,000.
Health officials have warned that Sri Lanka will be like India if the people do not follow the health guidelines and that the next two weeks are crucial.
The government did not impose any restrictions on the Sinhala New Year at the end of the second wave of Kovid, when the British virus was being reported from the Boralesgamuwa area. In particular, PCR tests were not performed and the public was not warned a year ago by health officials that they had encountered people of British descent in the country.
Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle, the Minister of Kovid Administration, a specialist, ignored the request of the Kovid Suppression Committee to impose travel restrictions on the year. It is correct to say that the government was silent and allowed the people to go astray.
When the government was silent, the people of the country also thought that Kovid was over. Dressed like Prince Harry and Princess Megan of England, the people went on a trip not to mention the Nuwara Eliya Spring Festival in Sri Lanka. Went shopping. But in the end, they spent the year, not the year.
Now the government has brought various restrictions / laws to the people but everything that should have happened is over. Although Upul Rohana, the President of the Public Health Inspectors’ Association, has repeatedly pointed out to the government that isolating Grama Niladhari Divisions alone is not enough and that the country should be closed for at least a week, it was a harp to the deaf elephants.
Now the Kovid epidemic has spread across the country. Intermediate centers and quarantine centers are now being converted into hospitals due to overcrowding. There is a crisis in the intensive care units. Intensive care units cannot provide human resources like a war. They need specialized knowledge.
However, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says that the government has taken all possible and necessary steps to control the third wave of Kovid.
He says the government is increasingly focusing on strengthening the health sector to cope with the perceived changes in the global epidemic.
Speaking at the Minuwangoda Kovid Suppression Committee meeting, the Minister had stated that the challenge facing the government at the moment is to protect the people of the country and the economic situation and that it will do its utmost to meet that challenge.
The Minister had accused the Opposition of acting irresponsibly instead of assisting the government in controlling the disease, knowing that it was a global epidemic. He said the government was focused on solving the health problem through vaccination and controlling the virus and protecting the people.