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Medical lab techs lambast Govt. over Ukraine

05 Jan 2021

By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody   Deeming the Government’s utilisation of the “travel bubble” concept with regard to visiting Ukrainian tourists as irresponsible in terms of the health and safety of all concerned, the Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists alleged that the risk of Ukrainians infecting their fellow visiting countrymen and of Sri Lankans infecting Ukrainians and vice versa, was extremely high. A total of five Ukrainians who have been on a visit to Sri Lanka since the opening of the country for tourism on a limited scale under the “travel bubble” concept, where those visiting foreigners have no interactions with locals other than with those dealing with them directly, have, since arrival, tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. Speaking to The Morning in the context of a fresh strain of the Covid virus being detected in Ukraine, Sri Lanka Association of Government Medical Laboratory Technologists President Ravi Kumudesh also pointed out that government laboratories were not in possession of a gene sequencing machine despite international funding coming through for the purpose, which according to them, is essential for the identification of such new strains of this virus. According to Kumudesh, the biological “travel bubble” concept involved the visiting Ukrainians associating, by and large, their fellow nationals. By that default, all the other visiting Ukrainians are contacts of the five Ukrainians who have tested positive, he noted. “At present, we have information from those from the tourism sector involved with the visiting Ukrainians, including safari operators, that some Ukrainians are seen walking about freely without heed for even the minimum prescribed health guidelines, such as the mandatory wearing of the facemask, within five days of the stipulated 14 days of quarantine,” he elaborated. Since Covid-19 is a global pandemic, Kumudesh observed that the Government of Sri Lanka is duty bound to safeguard not only citizens, but anyone visiting the country. “In such a context, the tourists who travel in the country should be both without the Covid-19 infection and should also not be contacts of those who have been infected by it. We cannot technically say that it is a biological travel bubble as not all visiting Ukrainians are from the same family, but instead they are from various parts of Ukraine. We cannot say that all those visiting are Ukrainians, therefore let them infect each other. We have a responsibility towards all persons, domestic and foreign. Otherwise, what we will have is medical tourism,” he explained.  National Operations Centre for the Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak Head and Sri Lanka Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena, and Public Health Inspectors’ Union of Sri Lanka President M.G. Upul Rohana were unavailable for comment.


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