Despite the wave of Covid-19 infections sweeping China, the Health Ministry has negated worries in the Sri Lankan context given that it is too early to ascertain possible impacts and has requested that people continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and remain vigilant.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Public Health Services Deputy Director General Dr. Hemantha Herath said that it was “extremely difficult” to predict how the new Covid-19 surge in China would be transmitted to Sri Lanka, but noted that the country should remain vigilant and take appropriate action according to the circumstances.

“We cannot say that there will be no effect on Sri Lanka, but at the moment there is no visible effect to be observed. However, we know that whenever there is a surge in other countries, we can also expect similar things.”

The health expert however urged the public to adhere to health guidelines such as mask wearing, washing hands, and social distancing. “We want to tell everyone to adhere to health guidelines since this will not only help prevent Covid, but also all other respiratory illnesses prevalent during the winter season such as influenza.”

When asked whether there was a risk that this new Covid-19 wave in China might lead to a repeat of the outbreak of 2020, Dr. Herath said: “We cannot say anything at this moment, everything depends on the behaviour of the people. If they adhere to health guidelines, there will probably be a very mild outbreak which will gradually reduce. However, if they don’t adhere to the health guidelines, we don’t know what may happen.”

Speaking of the measures in place to handle the possibility of an outbreak, he said that standard operating procedures were already in place, which would be activated and implemented. This was the method followed for all previous outbreaks as well, he noted. “Everything depends on the magnitude, severity, and probable consequences of the outbreak; if it has a high death rate, we will have to increase hospital facilities and treatments.”

Meanwhile, Ministry of Health Secretary Janaka Sri Chandraguptha told The Sunday Morning that they were remaining vigilant, but since no official news had been declared from China regarding the outbreak, no concrete action was being planned at the moment. 

“China has not declared any news regarding the outbreak officially. Even the WHO has not given any instructions so far. We are awaiting their response and once we get some response, we will follow it.”

He stressed: “We are remaining vigilant; if any variants emerge, our laboratory services are ready; if there are any tests needed, we can undertake those.”

The Health Ministry also shared that there were no tourist restrictions at present, with the Secretary saying: “There are no restrictions in place against tourists from China since nothing has been officially confirmed. If we get officially confirmed data or information we can proceed.”

Dr. Herath noted that there was a possibility of transmission from China due to international travel, but that “screening is not going to help at any point”.

He stressed that there would be no screening measures enacted at airports: “We are not going to do anything at the airport. Screening at the airport is not going to help.”

At a press briefing on Wednesday (21), WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that WHO was very concerned over the evolving situation in China with increasing reports of severe disease, adding that while Covid deaths had dropped more than 90% since their global peak, there were still too many uncertainties about the virus to conclude that the pandemic was over.