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Thursday, 22 April 2021 01:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
The country’s total COVID-19 patient count has risen to 98,050 with health authorities stating that 578 persons tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
The patients detected yesterday include 516 associates of the Peliyagoda cluster, expanding the Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda and Prisons clusters to 92,495 patients.
In addition to the triple cluster, 3,309 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad, 950 Navy personnel and their contacts, 651 persons linked to the Kandakadu cluster, and 270 foreigners have also tested positive for COVID-19 to date.
The district distribution of COVID-19 patients published by the Epidemiology Unit shows 30,790 patients from Colombo, 18,791 patients from Gampaha, 6,846 patients from Kalutara, 4,304 patients from Kandy, and 3,158 patients from Kurunegala.
This includes the 367 COVID-19 patients detected on Wednesday, which includes 94 patients from Colombo, 54 patients from Gampaha, and 43 patients from Kurunegala.
At present, 3,752 persons are under medical care and hospitals have 483 persons suspected of having COVID-19 under observation. The active cases include 221 persons at the Giriulla Treatment Centre, 149 persons at the Dambadeniya Treatment Centre, and 131 persons at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID).
A total of 121 persons were discharged from hospitals yesterday, including 17 persons from the Hambantota District General Hospital and 14 persons from the Narammala District Hospital. The country’s COVID-19 recoveries have risen to 93,668.
According to the Health Promotion Bureau, 8,404 PCR tests were performed on Tuesday.
Health authorities yesterday stated that samples collected from COVID-19 patients detected from a State bank in Fort.
“Samples of these patients have been studied by the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the Sri Jayewardenepura University and they have informed us that they are carrying out further tests to determine if the virus in these persons is different from the virus seen in Sri Lanka so far, or whether it is a mutation of the virus,” Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena said.
Meanwhile, Kuliyapitiya Medical Officer of Health Dr. Uthpala Sankalpa raised concerns about a third wave originating from Kuliyapitiya, after 190 patients were detected from the area in the last 20 days.
“Our PCR tests have a 10% positive rate and with this, we do have fears and suspicions if the beginnings of a third wave will be from Kuliyapitiya,” he said.
The Medical Officer of Health added that maximum capacities are being reached at treatment centres and that there was sometimes a wait of up to two days before a patient could be admitted to a treatment centre.
Given the rise of COVID-19 patients detected in the island in the past few days, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said failure to com
