President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

• Move follows President’s instructions to officials 
• Restrictions till midnight on Sunday 
• Focus on need to protect people with 
• non-communicable diseases
• Every regional dispensary in the country to be activated
• Goods delivery to isolated areas to be strictly monitored 

The Government yesterday announced all movement to leave the Western Province will be restricted till midnight on Sunday after a directive from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who also called for special attention to be paid to protect those suffering from non-communicable diseases from COVID-19, given the recent spike in deaths of those with pre-existing conditions, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said yesterday. 

Medical experts point out that 93% of the COVID deaths reported in past few days in Sri Lanka, as well as in other countries, was due to the infection of people suffering from non-communicable diseases. People with heart ailments, diabetes, kidney problems, and cancer are more vulnerable to developing serious complications from COVID-19. 

Most of the deaths have occurred without displaying symptoms of COVID-19 but subsequent PCR tests confirmed that they were COVID infected.

President directed relevant parties to give priority to address this situation and disseminate applicable guidelines and conduct awareness campaigns soon to protect those suffering from non-communicable diseases and to prevent infection. 

He also instructed officials to take necessary steps to prevent movements from the Western Province, where the majority of the COVID-19 infected were identified, to other parts of the country, according to the PMD statement. 

The President made these remarks during the daily briefing with the members of the Task Force on COVID-19 Prevention held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. At the meeting, in addition to the current status of COVID-19 spread and the progress of control, measures to be taken, areas to be studied to protect people and to ensure their overall health security in the event of emergence of similar viruses in the future were also discussed at length.

While recognising hardships faced by the people in accessing major hospitals, the President emphasised that regional dispensary systems across the country should be made fully functional as soon as possible. He also said that required resources, such as doctors, nurses, midwives and other staff, should be provided to these dispensaries expeditiously.

It should be continuously monitored whether the parties involved in the delivery of goods to isolated areas are following the correct mechanisms. He said no one should be allowed to enter or leave these designated areas. The current situation at prisons and measures taken to prevent further spread of the disease were also discussed in length.

Ministers Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Keheliya Rambukwella, Members of Parliament Premnath C. Dolawatte, Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, Principal Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga, and members of the Task Force were present during the discussion. 

COVID-19 death toll rises to 46