Second day with no new COVID-19 cases reported

• Total cases remain at 190, active cases at 129
• Number of recovered increases to 54 
• 20 people moved to quarantine from Ratnapura also tested, none positive
• 28 people from Kurunegala, Wellampitiya, Akkaraipattu and Matale moved to quarantine centres
• Total number in quarantine reduced to 1,455 in a dozen centres

As there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported yesterday in the country, Sri Lanka earned a second day of respite in the virus battle with total cases remaining at 190 and active cases reducing to 129 as of today. 

The number of recoveries also increased to 54, while a total of 224 people had been hospitalised with symptoms of the virus. Health authorities have begun random testing of persons for COVID-19 and reiterated plans to scale up testing in the coming days.

Addressing the press at the National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPC), Health Services Director Dr. Anil Jasinghe said that the health authorities had scaled up the testing over the last 10 days. He was joined by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, NOCPC Head Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, and DIG Ajith Rohana. 

“We have begun testing samples from the public randomly. We have tested samples from patients in hospital,from quarantine centres, and from the areas where new clusters were detected,” Dr. Jasinghe explained, pointing out that for a second day, no confirmed cases were reported.

Speaking at the press conference, Health Minister Wanniarachchi said that 20 persons out of 58 who were moved to quarantine from Ratnapura recently were subjected to the PCR test for COVID-19.

 “We plan to test the remaining 38 today (10 April), and I’m confident there won’t be any positive reports,” she stated. “The public should not ill-treat those who return from quarantine or have recovered from the virus,” she appealed, pointing out that no one intended to be infected.

Of the confirmed cases, 44 of them are from the Colombo District, 34 from Puttalam, 27 from Kalutara, and 16 from Gampaha. The 190 confirmed cases include three foreign nationals and 37 individuals from quarantine centres. According to Lt. Gen. Silva, 28 persons have been moved to quarantine centres as a precautionary measure. 

Ten persons from Kurunegala and Wellampitiya who had come into contact with a COVID-19 patient have been moved to the Punani quarantine centres. Another 10 persons from Akkaraipattu have been moved to the Dhamminna quarantine centres after coming into close contact with a COVID-19 patient. A further eight from Matale were also moved to quarantine for similar reasons.

A total of 1,455 persons remain in 12 quarantine centres managed by the armed forces according to Lt. Gen. Silva. The Government has decided to convert the Rs. 5,000 loan given to low income earners on the Samurdhi program to a grant, according to Minister Wanniarachchi, pointing out that 2.1 million families have been paid close to Rs. 10.6 billion under the program.