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PHIs claim nearly 2,000 daily Covid cases and official number incorrect 

28 Jan 2022

  • Allege Health Ministry is misreporting figures
By Buddhika Samaraweera The Public Health Inspectors' Union (PHIU) has claimed that although the number of Covid-19 cases reported daily is low these days, the actual number of cases diagnosed daily is approximately 2,000. Speaking to the media yesterday (27), PHIU President Upul Rohana said: “Currently, the number of Covid-19 infections has increased significantly. Although not reported, the number of patients diagnosed daily is close to 2,000.”  He also said that due to the increase in the number of infected, the capacity of most of the hospitals and Covid-19 treatment centres has been exceeded, claiming that the Ministry of Health has a very limited number of treatment centres at present as a number of places used as such centres have been returned.  “Hospitals are overcrowded due to the increase in the number of Covid-19 patients and there is not enough space in treatment centres. There are signs that the health system will not be able to cope with the Covid-19 patients in the near future. The authorities and the people must understand this serious situation. If the infections continue to rise, the death toll could also rise sharply,” Rohana said.  However, Health Ministry Communications Director, Public Health Services Deputy Director General, and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division Head Dr. Hemantha Herath told The Morning yesterday that the number of Covid-19 cases is close to 800 at present, which is not an unbearable number for the hospital system. However, he said that it is important for everyone to follow the health guidelines in order to further reduce the number of infections. “There was a time when about 5,000 Covid-19 cases were reported daily. At that time, more than 50,000 patients were being treated at any given time in the health system, but the health sector was able to manage the situation. At present, only about 8,000 Covid-19 patients are being treated at hospitals. The health sector has the capacity to bear that number,” he said. Dr. Herath further said: “Just because the health system can take care of 50,000 patients, we should not create the environment for 50,000 patients infected with Covid-19 to be hospitalised. What we need to do is to further reduce the spread of the disease. These days, with nearly 800 cases being reported daily, nearly 20 patients die a day. This means that when the number of infections increases, the number of deaths will also go up. We need to prevent that from happening.”  The number of Covid-19 infections reported daily in Sri Lanka has increased significantly over the past few days. Over the past few weeks, 600 to 700 cases of Covid-19 infections have been reported daily, but the highest number of Covid-19 infections recorded in the last few days was 927 on 26 January. In addition, 891 cases were reported on 25 January, 877 on 24 January, 838 on 23 January, 845 on 22 January, 840 on 21 January, 827 on 20 January, and 829 on 19 January.  According to the Epidemiology Unit, as of 10 a.m. yesterday, Sri Lanka had recorded 15,346 Covid-19 related deaths while the total number of infections stood at 606,162, of which a total of 577,030 patients had recovered. 


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