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Crucial Covid control meeting today

15 Feb 2021

A meeting that will determine the changes to be made to Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 response and related health guidelines, following the detection of the highly transmissible UK variant B.1.1.7 in the country, will be held today (15). Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath told The Morning yesterday (14) that a meeting will be held today where several decisions would be taken about the way forward. Responding to rumours about a looming lockdown, Dr. Herath said that although a lockdown is always advisable from a health perspective, such decisions should be made after taking the daily lives of the country’s citizens and the economy into consideration. “Lockdowns are always good to prevent transmission, but they affect people’s daily lives. So all of that should be factored in when making such decisions,” he said, adding that today’s meeting will determine what the next steps in Covid-19 control would be. The Public Health Inspectors’ (PHIs) Union holds that a countrywide lockdown should be imposed until the country has a better understanding of the transmissibility and the impact of the new coronavirus variant in Sri Lanka. Speaking to The Morning, PHIs’ Union President M.G. Upul Rohana said that a countrywide lockdown should be imposed until more details about the activity of this new variant inside the country is learnt. “We should go into a lockdown until we know the impact this variant has in Sri Lanka since we don’t have an understanding of those aspects yet.” However, National Operation Centre for Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head and Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva denied reports of a countrywide lockdown while speaking to the media yesterday. “The Government has not taken any such decision to impose a countrywide lockdown. However, the Government remains vigilant over the cases of new Covid-19 variants that are being reported across the country and will take action under the instructions of the health authorities,” he said. However, it was reported that the guidelines pertaining to gatherings are to be revised soon given the current Covid-19 situation in the country. The highly transmissible UK variant B.1.1.7 was detected in samples from Colombo, Avissawella, and quarantine centres through genome sequencing conducted by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, Allergy Immunology, and Cell Biology Unit from January to the first week of February.


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