The new species of the Covid 19 virus, which has been reported from Britain, it has now spread to nearly 40 countries, including European countries. Other countries are also at high risk from the virus.
Flights from Britain to Sri Lanka have been suspended to prevent the new virus from entering the country. Also, the reopening of the Sri Lankan airport for foreign tourists has been delayed by a few days. The authorities had earlier decided to open the country to foreign tourists from today (26) by removing the restrictions imposed on foreign tourists due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Accordingly, a group of Russian nationals were scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka today, but the group’s tour has been postponed indefinitely due to the new corona virus spreading in the European region.
But the Government Medical Officers’ Association points out that those facts alone are not enough. The association says there is a risk of the new virus entering the country through people from Middle Eastern countries.
Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, Head of the Epidemiology Unit, said that the Sri Lanka Health Service has the facilities to identify patients infected with this new strain of the virus and therefore no one should be afraid of the new strain.
He says genetic analysis is needed to identify the new virus strain and that the necessary facilities are in place in the country Ravi Kumudesh, president of the Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists, says Sri Lanka does not have any of the genetic sequencing analyzers needed to detect new strains of the virus, including the new Kovid strain.
He said that although there were three attempts to import these machines into the country, it was not done due to some officials who had rumored that the Kovid had been completely eradicated from the country.
He points out that genetic sequencing or a genetic analysis machine is essential for a country as well as a government laboratory and has been avoided on three occasions by the Ministry of Health or related specialists.