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Tuesday, 12 May 2020 00:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree
Wickrama Adittiya
As COVID-19 restrictions were eased yesterday and people returned to work, no new patients were identified, authorities said, while 22 recoveries dropped the number of active cases to 511.
This brought the total recoveries in the country to 343. According to yesterday’s situation report by the Epidemiology Unit, the recoveries include nine patients from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), eight from the Welikanda Base Hospital, four from the Iranawila Hospital, and one from the Homagama Base Hospital.
The country’s recovery rate is 39.75% according to the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB).
Of the 511 active cases, 203 are at the Navy Hospital, 115 at the NIID, 85 at the Colombo East Base Hospital, 53 at the Homagama Base Hospital, 38 at the Welikanda Base Hospital, 10 at the Iranawila Hospital, and seven at the Kattankudy Base Hospital.
Although new patients were not identified yesterday, 16 persons tested positive in the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. yesterday. 14 of them were asymptomatic and only one patient was identified through hospital samples collected during admission with clinical symptoms.
Since 22 April, 555 COVID-19 patients have been identified and 432 of them were asymptomatic. The number of Navy personnel and their close contacts who tested positive since 22 April has increased to 463.
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva yesterday said that despite a considerable number of Navy personnel having tested positive for COVID-19, the Sri Lanka Navy was active in containment measures.
At present, the total count of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka is 863. According to the Epidemiology Unit, 429 Navy personnel have tested positive for COVID-19, as have 66 persons among local communities at quarantine centres and 44 persons among overseas arrivals at quarantine centres.
The Epidemiology Unit’s report also shows that 150 patients were identified from the Colombo District, 36 from Gampaha, and 35 from Puttalam.
In addition to this, 114 suspect patients have been hospitalised, of which 24 are at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, 14 at the Negombo District General Hospital, and 13 at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka.
According to the Health Promotion Bureau, 1,282 PCR tests were carried out on Sunday and the total number of PCR tests performed is 36,605.
Addressing the media, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva stated that 7,391 persons have completed the mandatory quarantine process and have left the centres so far. This includes 279 persons released yesterday and the Sri Lanka Air Force on their website stated that 175 civilians were released from the Iranamadu Quarantine Centre yesterday.
A further 3,805 persons are yet to complete the mandatory quarantine process at the 39 centres operated by the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, and Air Force.
All Sri Lankans brought down from other countries will be subjected to a mandatory 14-day quarantine process and this includes the 452 Sri Lankans who returned to the country yesterday. Lt. Gen. Silva said: “Yesterday, a SriLankan Airlines flight brought down a group of 274 Sri Lankans, including students, from Melbourne, Australia and 178 persons from Malaysia.”
He added that 479 persons are to be flown to the island from Chennai, India today.
The public and private sectors were allowed to reopen today and Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva stressed that it was important that all employers and employees adhere to health sector guidelines and regulations.
