By Sarah Hannan
With the Colombo District now reporting the highest number of daily detections of Covid-19 patients, surpassing the number that was reported in the Gampaha District, Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Mayor Rosy Senanayake questioned the dangers in calling employees that reside in isolated zones to work.
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Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Mayor Rosy Senanayake[/caption]
“Strict preventive measures need to be in place to control the spread of Covid-19 within the commercial district. Placing police areas under isolation seems to be redundant as persons who live in these isolation zones are called into work. This is a dangerous trend; how can we ensure the health and safety of the citizens if people are allowed to leave isolated areas?” Senanayake questioned.
The Mayor requested from the health authorities to consider placing at least the CMC limits under lockdown for a time period of two to three weeks until the situation is under control.
She also pointed out that the number of elderly people who live within the CMC limits are higher than any other area of the Western Province.
Observing that this time, many elderly persons have been dying and PCR tests run on the corpses are returning positive for Covid-19, it can be that there are many infected and are moving about in the city, while they get on with their daily lives in the so called “new normal”, it was further pointed out.
According to records maintained at the CMC, during the recent wave of Covid-19, up to 200 employees of the CMC had contracted the virus: Engineers Department recorded 170 cases, Community Health Department recorded 20, Fire Department recorded six, Secretary Department recorded two, and one each from the Printers and Estimations Departments.
She also pointed out that although the CMC is conducting PCR tests on first and second contacts of Covid-19 patients, the Council does not have the facilities to conduct random PCR tests within all municipality limits.
Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Mayor Rosy Senanayake[/caption]
“Strict preventive measures need to be in place to control the spread of Covid-19 within the commercial district. Placing police areas under isolation seems to be redundant as persons who live in these isolation zones are called into work. This is a dangerous trend; how can we ensure the health and safety of the citizens if people are allowed to leave isolated areas?” Senanayake questioned.
The Mayor requested from the health authorities to consider placing at least the CMC limits under lockdown for a time period of two to three weeks until the situation is under control.
She also pointed out that the number of elderly people who live within the CMC limits are higher than any other area of the Western Province.
Observing that this time, many elderly persons have been dying and PCR tests run on the corpses are returning positive for Covid-19, it can be that there are many infected and are moving about in the city, while they get on with their daily lives in the so called “new normal”, it was further pointed out.
According to records maintained at the CMC, during the recent wave of Covid-19, up to 200 employees of the CMC had contracted the virus: Engineers Department recorded 170 cases, Community Health Department recorded 20, Fire Department recorded six, Secretary Department recorded two, and one each from the Printers and Estimations Departments.
She also pointed out that although the CMC is conducting PCR tests on first and second contacts of Covid-19 patients, the Council does not have the facilities to conduct random PCR tests within all municipality limits.