Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Friday, 9 April 2021 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Three patients who have contracted the Denmark variant of COVID-19 have been identified in the community from Colombo, the University of Sri Jayawardenapura said yesterday.
Sri Lanka has carried out monthly genetic sequencing of the COVID-19 virus variants since the virus first entered the country in March 2020. Accordingly, a total of 55 samples have been subjected to genetic sequencing for the month of March 2021.
According to the University, a test has found that a person in quarantine has contracted a strain of the UK COVID-19 variant.
Amidst concerns about the national vaccination program faltering, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told Parliament that the Government is planning to enter into a contract with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, to purchase seven million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, expressing hope that the deliveries will take place in 2022.
Wanniarachchi rejected claims that the Government had purchased the 600,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine which arrived in the country, stressing that the stock was a gift from China and was not purchased.
Responding to a question by the Opposition Leader, the Health Minister stated that the Government has received applications from the Serum Institute of India for the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Russia’s Sputnik V, Chinese Sinopharm and Baratha BioTec for the COVAX vaccines adding that the Ministry plans to have the vaccines registered and enter into a dialogue for contracts with them in the future.
A total of 309 persons tested positive for COVID-19 virus yesterday, increasing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 patients to 94,562, the National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPC) said yesterday. Of the total number of patients, 86,476 are from the Peliyagoda Fish Market cluster. The Epidemiology Unit states that 209 persons were discharged from hospitals yesterday. The country’s total COVID-19 recoveries have risen to 91,044.
According to the Health Ministry, two patients succumbed to the virus yesterday, pushing the number of COVID-19 deaths to 593. A total of 2,616 infected patients remain under treatment. The highest number of patients – 105 – is being treated at the Embilipitiya Treatment Centre, the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health said.
The Epidemiology Unit stated that 151 persons were vaccinated as of yesterday afternoon, bringing the total number of persons vaccinated in Sri Lanka to 924,758. According to the NOCPC, 10,547 persons are undergoing the mandatory quarantine program at 102 quarantine centres managed by the armed forces. A total of 6,591 PCR test had been conducted on Wednesday (7).
