GMOA says easing of COVID-19 restrictions must come with strict social distancing rules

• GMOA proposes Exit Strategy to Government
• Says aggressive testing proposed by WHO must be done
• Once airports/ports open, all coming into country must be tested and quarantined
• Says up to 23,000 could have been in contact with 3,000 who had direct contact with confirmed patients so far

The GMOA said yesterday that the Government must be cautious about lifting restrictions introduced to curb the spread of the new coronavirus and if some measures are relaxed in the coming days, they should be done with strict compliance with social distancing rules.

In its latest situation report on COVID-19, the GMOA said that the Association has given an Exit Strategy for the Government to follow when relaxing the restrictions in place and requested that these measures be followed so that there would be no resurgence of the virus.

The measures proposed by the GMOA include testing of all quarantined personnel using an algorithm proposed by experts. “By such testing, positive patients could be isolated and treated in hospitals, preventing them from spreading the disease to their households as well as the community.”

The GMOA called for the adopting of the aggressive testing strategy, as proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). It also said that since sensitivity of tests is less than 70%, tests should be repeated in series to enhance the pickup rates.

The GMOA also said that when ports of entry such as airports open towards the latter part of the global pandemic, all arrivals should be compulsorily tested and quarantined, in order to avoid the import of new cases of COVID-19 to Sri Lanka.

The Association said that contact tracing has shown that there are at least 3,000 persons who have been in contact with the 233 patients who have been confirmed as COVID-19 positive and there could be around 23,000 others who have come into contact with them.

It is still not clear in which areas these persons are spread out and testing for the coronavirus is one way of ensuring that more of those infected area detected.

“The majority of COVID-19 patients have mild symptoms, with 20% showing no symptoms of the disease. Moreover, according to experts, the sensitivity of the tests to detect COVID-19 is less than 70%. As such, the COVID-19 pandemic creates uncertainty and, therefore, adversely affects a confident action plan,” the GMOA said.