Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Friday, 14 May 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
A total of 2,269 persons tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, raising the country’s total patient count to 135,796.
2,249 patients detected yesterday are linked to the New Year cluster, and the Minuwangoda, Peliyagoda, Prisons and New Year clusters have expanded to 129,611.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, 82,785 patients linked to the Peliyagoda cluster, 36,478 patients linked to the New Year Cluster, 5,040 patients linked to the Prisons cluster and 3,059 patients linked to the Minuwangoda cluster have been detected to date.
This includes the 2,374 persons from the New Year cluster and 12 persons from the Prisons cluster detected on Wednesday. 43 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad also tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 3,956 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad and 315 foreigners have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka to date.
Among the 2,429 COVID-19 patients detected on Thursday were 413 persons from Colombo, 370 persons from Kalutara, 332 persons from Gampaha, 140 persons from Matara and 136 persons from Kurunegala.
The district distribution of all COVID-19 patients detected to date include 39,056 persons from Colombo, 24,715 persons from Gampaha, 10,784 persons from Kalutara, 6,306 persons from Kurunegala, and 5,577 persons from Kandy.
At present, 26,126 persons are under medical care and 1,473 patients suspected of having COVID-19 are under observation. The active patients include 548 persons at the Punani Treatment Centre, 507 persons at the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital and 479 persons at the Bingiriya Treatment Centre.
Health authorities yesterday warned daily COVID-19 detections could rise in the coming days.
“The UK variant is spreading in the country at the moment. This is a highly transmissible variant and the number of complications and deaths can also thus increase,” Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said. He added that all overseas arrivals must undergo strict quarantine measures in order to ensure variants of the virus do not spread in the country.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, hospitals yesterday discharged 1,145 persons who recovered from COVID-19. This includes 172 persons from the Kopai Treatment Centre, 95 persons from the Punani Treatment Centre and 84 persons from the Dambadeniya Treatment Centre.
The total COVID-19 recoveries have increased to 108,802.
