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By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
The Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda and Prisons COVID-19 clusters exceeded 40,000 patients after close to three months since the emergence of the Divulapitiya COVID-19 cluster, with the detection of 557 patients yesterday.
According to the Department of Government Information, 555 associates of the Peliyagoda COVID-19 cluster yesterday tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of patients linked to the triple clusters to 40,126.
A total of 43,856 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 to date. This includes 1,683 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad and 132 foreigners in terms of imported cases. Local cases include 950 Navy personnel and their contacts and 651 persons linked to the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre from currently inactive clusters.
Of the total patients, 7,497 persons are currently under medical care. According to the Department of Government Information, 449 persons at the Punani Treatment Centre, 468 persons at the Bingiriya Treatment Centre, and 416 persons at the Gallela Treatment Centre are among the active cases.
Hospitals are also monitoring 406 persons suspected of having COVID-19.
The Epidemiology Unit adds that 133 persons from the Punani Treatment Centre, 44 persons from the Kandakadu Treatment Centre, and 43 persons from the Hambantota District General Hospital are among persons discharged from hospitals yesterday.
The country’s total COVID-19 recoveries have increased to 36,155.
Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera yesterday said that 522 per million of the global population are identified as COVID-19 positive, while the ‘per million’ rate is higher in the South Asian region, where 5,859 patients are detected per million.
“In our country, for every million, 1,886 patients are detected,” he said, adding that, in terms of deaths, nine COVID-19 deaths occur per million persons globally.
“In the South Asian region, 89 persons per million of the population died of COVID-19. In our country, however, similarly to the global rate, for every million, nine persons died of COVID-19 in 2020,” the Chief Epidemiologist went on to say. Meanwhile, the Epidemiology Unit published the district/MOH distribution of patients updated on 30 December 2020. According to the data, 13,250 COVID-19 patients have been detected from the Colombo Municipal Council area, 555 patients have been detected from Kolonnawa, and 531 patients from Hanwella. A total of 18 areas in the Colombo District are marked as high-risk areas, with the last patient detected during the two-week period ending on 30 December 2020. In addition to the above areas, Dehiwala, Kaduwela, Moratuwa and Pitakotte have also been identified as high risk.
Fifteen areas in the Gampaha District and 12 areas in the Kalutara District are high-risk areas as well. The Epidemiology Unit states that 1,188 persons from Mahara, 817 persons from Minuwangoda, and 803 persons from Kelaniya as well as 603 persons from Bandaragama, 375 persons from Bulathsinhala, and 133 persons from Panadura are among the total number of COVID-19 patients detected in the island.
With the exception of Mannar, all districts have at least one area where a patient was detected in the last two weeks.
The district breakdown of the 597 COVID-19 patients detected on 31 December 2020 records 256 patients from Colombo, 63 patients from Batticaloa, 62 patients from Gampaha, 50 patients from Kegalle, and 36 patients from Kalutara. Of the 256 patients detected from Colombo, 79 were from Narahenpita, 60 were from Borella, and 26 were from Grandpass.
The district distribution of all COVID-19 patients detected in the island records 17,539 from Colombo, 9,164 from Gampaha, 2,962 from Kalutara, 1,315 from Kandy, and 713 from Kalmunai.
The National Operations Centre for the Prevention of the COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) yesterday announced that the Kattankudy Police Division and 11 Grama Niladhari Divisions in Kalmunai have been isolated.
