Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Thursday Nov 21, 2024
Monday, 2 August 2021 00:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 detections rose to 311,349 with over 4,500 persons testing positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.
The weekend detections include 2,510 patients on Sunday and 2,177 patients the previous day.
On Sunday, 2,490 persons linked to the New Year cluster tested positive for COVID-19. PCR testing increased on Sunday, with 19,122 tests carried out within the day.
On Saturday, 15,131 PCR tests and 4,354 rapid antigen tests were carried out and the detections include 2,134 persons from the New Year cluster, 27 Sri Lankan overseas returnees and 16 persons from the Prisons cluster.
Of the patients detected on Saturday, 441 were from Gampaha, 389 were from Kalutara, and 158 were from Matara.
In total, 71,267 persons from Colombo, 56,085 persons from Gampaha, and 33,300 persons from Kalutara have tested positive for COVID-19. Third wave detections include 38,970 persons from Colombo, 37,551 persons from Gampaha, and 26,242 persons from Kalutara.
The country’s total COVID-19 detections include 302,817 persons from the Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda, Prisons and New Year clusters. The majority of these cases belong to the New Year cluster, which emerged in April.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, 206,639 patients are linked to the New Year cluster, while 82,785 patients are linked to the Peliyagoda cluster, 7,834 patients are linked to the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 patients are linked to the Divulapitiya cluster.
The country’s imported cases consist of 6,280 Sri Lankan overseas returnees and 328 foreigners.
At present, 27,998 persons are under medical care and 1,238 persons suspected of having COVID-19 are under observation. The Epidemiology Unit states that the country’s COVID-19 recoveries rose to 278,910 with 1,792 persons leaving hospitals yesterday.
Meanwhile, public health inspectors (PHI) yesterday raised concerns about public officers being asked to come to work as per usual starting today.
“Although public officers have received the vaccine, most have only received one dose. This will not give them full immunity. The second and more important point is that the families of public officers are not vaccinated,” PHI Union President Upul Rohana said, adding that this poses a risk to the parents and children of public officers.
He added that pregnant public officers are also at risk and that the circular ignores such groups.
