Saturday Dec 21, 2024
Saturday Dec 21, 2024
Wednesday, 22 December 2021 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 detections rose to 580,922 with the detection of 713 COVID-19 positive persons yesterday.
The patients detected yesterday include 518 persons from the New Year cluster. According to the Health Promotion Bureau, 9,307 PCR tests were conducted yesterday.
The previous day, 5,451 PCR tests and 2,773 rapid antigen tests were conducted and 524 patients were detected. This includes 522 persons from the New Year cluster and two persons from the Prisons cluster.
Epidemiology Unit data shows that 476,052 patients from the New Year cluster, 82,785 patients from the Peliyagoda cluster, 9,062 patients from the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 patients from the Divulapitiya cluster have been detected.
The country’s imported cases include 7,009 Sri Lankan overseas arrivals and 328 foreigners.
The district distribution of COVID-19 patients shows 116,807 detections from Colombo, 100,592 detections from Gampaha, 53,629 detections from Kalutara, 37,375 detections from Galle, and 28,444 detections from Kurunegala.
During the third wave of the pandemic, 84,510 persons from Colombo, 82,058 persons from Gampaha, and 46,571 persons from Kalutara have tested positive for COVID-19.
At present, 8,212 persons are under medical or home-based care and 2,549 persons suspected of having COVID-19 are under observation.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 294 persons were released from care yesterday, raising the country’s COVID-19 recoveries to 557,915.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Ministers on Monday decided to extend the grace period given to those in the tourism industry for the payment of their electricity bills.
On 18 January, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to grant a concession for persons providing tourist accommodation until 28 February for electricity bill payments. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry this year, this grace period has been extended from 1 March for two more years.
