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Rise in Covid-19 cases: Health authorities urge fourth dose

24 Jul 2022

  • Covid cases jump to 57 on 21 July; at 8 on 21 June
  • Focus on awareness and precautions over testing 
By Maneesha Dullewe Reports of a slight increase in the number of Covid cases are causing health authorities to strongly recommend precautionary measures, including the administration of the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.  Ministry of Health Deputy Director General (Public Health Services) Dr. Hemantha Herath told The Sunday Morning that while the increase in Covid cases was not significant, it was nevertheless concerning. “While these aren’t huge numbers, it’s a relative increase. Compared to a few months or weeks back, there is a relative increase of cases,” he said, adding that the daily cases had increased from around 10 a few weeks ago to between 50-70 in the past few days.  “Although the total numbers haven’t increased to high levels, the way they are rising is alarming,” he warned. According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health, the number of inward, waiting to be admitted, and home-based cases has increased to 500 over the past week.  The number of Covid-19 daily positive cases on Thursday (21) had surged to 57, compared to 21 June, when the daily cases stood at eight. Recoveries per 24 hours remained at a steady three for both days. Under these circumstances, Dr. Herath advised that the public needed to take all cautionary measures, even though the numbers had not reached alarming levels. “We have to tell the public to take all precautions in order to ensure that they don’t spread the disease. We’re not trying to frighten people, but unless we control it at this level, once it reaches around 1,000 cases, we won’t be in a position to do so.” Dr. Herath affirmed that while there were sufficient quantities of test kits available, it was not necessary to test people unnecessarily unless they had symptoms.  He further stressed that rather than focusing on the availability of testing facilities, it was more important to inform the people to take all proper health precautions to avoid getting infected.  Accordingly, he urged the public to get the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. “You will be much safer and free of complications if you get the appropriate vaccination, which is the fourth dose. I would request everyone to get the vaccine as soon as possible, before the stocks expire.” Moreover, addressing the status of the vaccination process, Dr. Herath strongly urged the public to get the fourth dose within this month, noting that the vaccination centres were not seeing sufficient traffic for them to require any expansion at the moment. “The available centres are not saturated, so why should we expand? If the available centres become overcrowded, we can definitely increase capacity. All Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas have a vaccination centre, but only a few people are coming to those centres. For instance, from May onwards, only about 13,000 people have taken the vaccine.” Meanwhile, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) too advised the general public to take the fourth dose – the Pfizer vaccine – as early as possible, issuing a warning about the increasing number of Covid cases.  GMOA Media Committee Member Dr. Vasan Ratnasingam said: “About 1,000 tests are being performed daily – both the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and the PCR test. Earlier, daily cases were around 5-10, with two or three fatalities per month, but now cases are increasing. Average daily cases have risen to 30-80, with seven to eight deaths per week. Thus the number of cases has seen an almost eightfold increase per day and the death rate has increased by 24%. Therefore it is high time to take precautions.” Calls for revision of mask guidelines Given the surge in Covid cases in the country, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has requested an immediate convening of the Covid-19 Technical Committee in order to reach a decision on revising existing health guidelines regarding reinstating the wearing of masks.  GMOA Media Committee Member Dr. Vasan Ratnasingam noted that while the Ministry had stated that masks were no longer mandatory, the global spike in BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub variants posed a risk.  Dr. Ratnasingam stated that the Technical Committee should be convened in order to gather expert opinion on the matter.  “The GMOA requests the authorities to convene a Technical Committee meeting as early as possible, because previously all decisions were taken by this committee. We therefore request the Director General of Health Services to reconvene the Technical Committee in order to arrive at a decision with regard to the health guidelines and for the management of the Covid situation.” Sri Lanka relaxed its face mask mandate effective from 10 June, with the Director General of Health Services announcing that wearing face masks indoors and outdoors would not be mandatory, after Covid-19 cases and deaths reported in the country dropped significantly.  Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella told The Sunday Morning that the Health Ministry was strongly considering the request of reinstating the mandatory use of masks, at least for some groups, such as schoolchildren, given the prevailing health situation in the country. He added that a decision would be reached in consultation with health experts this week.  


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