• Assures Govt. will not interfere with health officials’ decisions
• Charges Opposition attempting to further delay election

In the wake of new COVID-19 cases being reported, Tourism and Aviation Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said the final decision on holding the General Election should be taken on recommendations of health officials, and insisted that the Government would not interfere with such decisions.

According to the Epidemiology Unit, over 499 persons have tested positive from the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre. Meanwhile, a private hospital in Ragama was closed following a staff member testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Minuwangoda, Ranatunga assured that the Government would only consider the opinion of health officials in its efforts to control the outbreak and said the Government will not interfere with health officials’ duties.

“Any decision regarding the COVID-19 pandemic will be taken by the health officials. I can assure you that the Government will only make decisions based on their advice. Therefore there are no political interests involved in any of these decisions,” he said.

He noted the decision to lockdown for more than two months was taken after considering health officials’ opinions. Ranatunga said that State Intelligence was being used to trace contacts and control the situation, which in his view, has shown positive results.

He also said that the Government has taken measures to provide essential food items to the public during the lockdown, and assured that the Government would not take any decision that will affect the public’s safety.  

Referring to the recent request of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa, questioning whether the election may be postponed, Ranatunga noted that such a decision would be made by health officials. According to Ranatunga, the Opposition’s calls to postpone the election were attempts to stave off their all-but-certain defeat at the election.

“The Opposition political parties are trying to take advantage of the situation. They are trying to minimise their defeat. The Election Commission (EC) had clearly stated that they are not willing to postpone the election, and health officials have also stated that the prevailing situation will not affect the election on 5 August,” he opined.

Number of active COVID-19 cases hit 650