RW says at least 3,000 COVID-19 tests must be carried out per day

• Urges Govt. to use all available resources to do more testing and get private sector involved too
• Says only 1,000 tests done per day at present
• Says only more testing can assure that there is no second wave of COVID-19

UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday urged the Government to increase the daily testing for COVID-19 to a minimum of 3,000 tests, saying this is the best way to ensure that the spread of the disease stays under control.

“At present we carry out only around 1,000 tests per day. We must use all the resources available to the health sector to do most testing. The private sector too should be involved in carrying out tests,” Wickremesinghe said in a statement.

“We have managed to control the spread of the disease by closing the airports and ports as well as by imposing a curfew.

 In the future, we should identify as many patients as possible who are there in the community. We should look at the practices in South Korea, New Zealand, and Germany in this regard,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said the World Health Organization too has recommended that more testing be done. “Even though we have the disease under control now, there is the threat of a school wave. There are some patients who have tested positive even after being cured the first time,” he said.

The UNP urged the Government to look at the recommendations of the Committee headed by Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva and other medical professionals in this regard and increase testing to at least 3,000 per day.