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Wednesday, 20 July 2022 01:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
Health authorities yesterday warned of a sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country, whilst renewing its call to the public to obtain the second booster or fourth jab against coronavirus.
“There is a spike of around 30% to 40% COVID-19 daily cases reported at present since the past two weeks,” Epidemiology Unit Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Samitha Ginige told journalists yesterday.
Although during the past two to three months the daily case count stood at between 10 and 15 persons, he said the risk of COVID-19 is still prevalent across the world, explaining that a sudden spike in cases was witnessed during the past three weeks.
As per the latest data released by the Government Information Department, Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 cases went up to 62 following yesterday’s detections, with the total case count currently standing at 664,572.
The district distribution of COVID-19 cases includes 140,019 cases from Colombo, 114,575 cases from Gampaha, 58,290 cases from Kalutara, 45,700 cases from Galle, and 31,508 cases from Kurunegala.
Dr. Ginige explained that the complications arising from the coronavirus could be prevented or avoid any serious illnesses for those who contract the virus if they had obtained all the recommended jabs against COVID-19.
The Chief Epidemiologist also pointed out that even though the school children have been urged to obtain the second vaccine, only a limited number of children have obtained the vaccine, whilst about one million children between the age of 12 and 15 have not obtained the vaccine so far.
On 5 July, the Health Services Director-General Dr. Asela Gunawardena warned of the possibility of another COVID-19 wave, which has been identified as highly transmittable, urging the public to obtain all four jabs against the virus.
As per the national immunisation program, a total of 186 vaccines were administered on Monday (18), with 78 persons receiving the first booster dose, while 85 persons receiving the second booster dose.
On Monday, nine persons received the second dose of Sinopharm, whilst five persons received the first dose of Pfizer and nine persons received the second dose of the vaccine.
According to the latest data shared by the Government Information Department in total, the second booster dose has been administered to 13,757 persons, whilst the first booster dose has been administered to 8,001,936 persons. The Epidemiology Unit states that 17,104,637 persons have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 14,553,192 persons have received the second dose as well.
It was pointed out that between 97% to 100% of people over 20-years of age had received primary vaccinations.
A total of 2,611,525 persons have received the first dose of Pfizer and 1,007,393 persons have received the second dose of the vaccine.
Epidemiology Unit data shows that there are currently 522 persons under medical or home-based care and 14 persons suspected of having COVID-19 under observation.
Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 recoveries rose to 647,460 with three persons released from care yesterday. The first dose of Sinopharm has been administered to 12,049,570 persons, whilst the second dose of Sinopharm was administered to 11,184,033 as of Monday.
The first dose of AstraZeneca has been administered to 1,479,631 persons and the second dose has been administered to 1,418,593 persons.
A total of 804,801 persons have received the first dose of Moderna and 787,361 persons have received the second dose of the vaccine.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 159,110 persons have received the first dose of Sputnik V and 155,812 persons have received the second dose as well.
