• No symptoms so far
• Group to be in quarantine for 14 days

The group of students who returned to Sri Lanka from Wuhan, China yesterday (1) were safely transferred to the quarantine facility established at the Army Base Hospital in Diyatalawa. The group of students were flown to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) on a special charter flight belonging to SriLankan Airlines. A total of 33 persons arrived at MRIA yesterday and were subjected to medical screenings by a qualified team of medical specialists affiliated to the military and were later transported to Diyatalawa. The group will be quarantined and isolated at the exclusively-erected Army sanatoriums inside the Diyatalawa Army Base Hospital. “No symptom of any virus syndrome whatsoever has been diagnosed or detected as of now and as instructed by the President and the Ministry of Health, the group will be monitored twice a day and be subjected to medical checkups. Should there be a change in their health situation, we will inform the relevant authorities immediately,” Acting Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva noted. The Commanding Officer of the Diyatalawa Army Base Hospital and a team of exclusively combined medical officers covering all medical aspects, accepted them in compliance with necessary preventive procedures, after preliminary hygienic procedures on admission to the sanatoriums on the guidelines were given by Director General of Army Health Services Maj. Gen. Sanjeewa Munasinghe. The Army, in close co-ordination with the Directorate of Preventive Medicine and Mental Health Services headed by Consultant Community Medicine Deputy Director Preventive Medicine and Mental Health Services of the Colombo Army Hospital Col. (Dr.) Saveen Semage, Security Force HQ-Central and the authorities at the Diyatalawa Army Base Hospital, are providing them with personal toiletries, sanitary towels, clothes, food, and all other amenities inclusive of Wi-Fi communication facilities, thermometers, etc. Arrangements in both 100 ft long and 20 ft wide sealed dormitories have been meticulously designed to suit medically sound quarantine purposes, coupled with personal protective equipment (PPE) during the process while keeping them in incubation for a period of two weeks, in isolation, under the close surveillance of medical consultants, epidemiologists, and other paramedical staff. – Sarah Hannan