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Covid-19 new variants: Entry restrictions will not help: DDGHS

26 Feb 2022

  • 90% of Covid infections are from Omicron variant
  • No. of persons who have taken booster dose pushes 6.8 m
  • ‘New, more dangerous variants, may arise’: WHO
By Aazam Ameen Imposing travel bans and restrictions in the face of new Covid-19 variants will not help to protect Sri Lanka, health authorities said yesterday (26). When asked if Sri Lanka was considering travel bans and entry restrictions for certain countries in the wake of the new World Health Organization (WHO) recent warning about new Covid variants, Ministry of Health Deputy Director General of Public Health Services (DDGHS) Dr. Hemantha Herath told The Sunday Morning that such a strategy would not help the situation. “Restricting entry from countries will not help. Sri Lanka and several other countries have failed in such efforts. We are not thinking about such moves at this moment unless it is deemed essential,” he told The Sunday Morning. Rather than imposing travel bans, the DDGHS opined that as long as the health guidelines were followed, the citizenry of the country would be safe regardless of any new variants entering Sri Lanka. “If we can adhere to the guidelines, none of these variants will spread. Getting vaccinated is also very important,” Dr. Herath stated. “We faced the same situation when the Alpha variant was detected in Sri Lanka but we managed to overcome the problem. The worst came when Delta entered the country. However, we were able to control the situation and made sure that all facilities were available for the treatment of patients,” he opined. The Omicron variant has been spreading at a rapid pace across the island, accounting for over 90% of Covid-19 infections. According to Dr. Herath, a large number of these patients are asymptomatic. Noting that the number of Covid fatalities had reduced over the recent past, Dr. Herath explained that this indicated a flattening of the death rate curve. “Almost all of the deaths were inevitable because these patients had low immunity. Regardless of what we do to treat them, complications arise and these patients succumb to their illness.” Meanwhile, the number of booster doses administered passed the 6.8 million mark last week. “Every day over 50,000 doses are being administered. On some days this number goes over 100,000. If everyone supports our efforts, we can come to a better position,” Dr. Herath asserted.  

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