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Covid-19 Kandakadu cluster: Numbers on the rise 

13 Jul 2020

With another Covid-19 cluster activated from the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre since 7 July, the country has seen a spike in cases, recording the highest number of cases on a single day which reached 300 on 10 July. As of 4 p.m. yesterday (12), 94 new cases were reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus infection, the Ministry of Health confirmed. That raised the total active cases to 614 that are under medical care at selected hospitals across the country. Sri Lanka has so far seen 2,605 cases of Covid-19 confirmed, with 1,981 already recovered and returned home. However, 99 persons placed under observation are suspected of having contracted Covid-19. Among the latest cases, 76 of them were persons transferred from the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre to the Senapura Rehabilitation Centre. The remaining 14 persons were in close association with them, according to the Department of Government Information. On 11 July, 13 patients were detected from the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre – East in Kandakadu and the rest of the 30 cases were close associates of the inmates, the Department of Government Information said. Further, four returnees from the UAE and one from Kuwait, who are under quarantine, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on the same day. In addition, two patients from Welikanda, five from Rajanganaya, and one each from Habaraduwa and Lankapura were identified. These cases were also confirmed to be close associates of the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre’s inmates who had contracted the disease. Thereby, 57 positive cases of Covid-19 were detected on 11 July. On 10 July, with another counsellor from the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre testing positive for Covid-19 at Rajanganaya, 300 villagers including 70 children from the area were placed under self-quarantine, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva stated. On 9 July, 56 persons from the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre and a female counsellor employed at the centre had tested positive for Covid-19. The female counsellor employed at the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre had tested positive from the Marawila area. The Ministry of Health stated that a second inmate of the Welikada Prison had tested positive for the virus. This patient is one of the inmates who had come into close contact with the inmate who had previously tested positive. All 1,150 detainees and employees affiliated to the Ministry of Justice-managed two rehabilitation centres for drug prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation in the Kandakadu and Senapura areas in the Polonnaruwa District underwent PCR tests. "After the detection of the Covid-19-positive detainee from the Welikada Prisons on Tuesday (7), who had returned from that Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre, all prison detainees and prison staff in Welikada were subjected to about 700 PCR tests, but all of them were confirmed negative for the virus. On the same day, all individuals inside the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre underwent PCR tests and 57 of those individuals were confirmed positive for the virus; of them was one female who is serving as an instructor at the centre but currently on leave in the Marawila area. Soon after she was diagnosed positive, her parents, family members, and associates have now been referred to PCR tests, kept in quarantine by the Army, and are awaiting results of those reports," Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva said. Commenting on the detection of a 11-year old Covid-19 positive child from Rajanganaya in Anuradhapura after an employee in the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre, who was found positive, visited Yaya-5 in Rajanganaya for a funeral and also the subsequent alms giving, he said that all attendees at the funeral and the alms giving, totalling about 230 individuals have now been placed in self-quarantine. "This episode has developed from 1-4 July during his visit and all necessary precautions have now been taken in Rajanganaya after admitting both the father and child for treatment," he added. In view of the numbers on duty and detainees at both centres, both the President and Prime Minister had instructed Lt. Gen. Silva to immediately take steps to convert the nearby Army-managed Kandakadu Quarantine Centre to a field hospital where some 500 Covid-19-infected persons can be treated, anticipating a further increase in positive cases upon receipt of PCR test results. It is believed that the infection would have been brought there by drug addicts who had been there by way of a court order for rehabilitation a few days ago or by 116 persons who had visited those relatives under rehabilitation on 4 July after restrictions were lifted. All of those visitors were identified and are now kept in self-quarantine.   


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