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President Gotabaya Rajapaksa chairs the meeting of the Task Force on COVID-19 Prevention yesterday
The Government yesterday intensified the battle against the fast-spreading second wave of COVID-19 by extending quarantine curfew for another week in the Western Province and afresh in few other new areas, as the total number of cases reached 7,582 over the weekend with the detection of over 600 new cases.
The Department of Government Information revealed that 193 persons had tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, of which 187 were contacts of the Peliyagoda Fish Market cluster and six were from quarantine centres.
The extension of the original curfew imposed for three days from Friday (30 October) was announced by National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva live on TV yesterday ahead of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Prevention meeting, which took a host of new measures as well.
The new areas where quarantine curfew have been imposed are Kurunegala Municipal Council and the Eheliyagoda and Kuliyapitiya Police areas.
“Within the past three days, we noticed that there was an upsurge in COVID-19 positive cases within Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts, which come under Western Province. In addition, a noticeable amount of cases were reported from Eheliyagoda, Kurunegala and Kuliyapitiya areas,” the Army Commander said in his special announcement via National TV. At the Task Force meeting, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made several concrete decisions to curb the COVID-19 spread without disrupting public life and the economy.
The measures taken by the Government to self-quarantine the infected at their homes instead of taking them to quarantine centres have produced results as expected. In order to make it more effective, the process should be continuously monitored by the Medical Officer of Health, the Public Health Inspector, the Police and the Army, the President pointed out. It was also decided that PCR tests on people under home quarantine should be conducted on the 10th day. President instructed to bring back those non-infected to normal life after 14 days.
President’s Media announced that the Government was able to protect the people during the first outbreak even when there was no experience in COVID-19. He said that steps should be taken to control the current situation, utilising the lessons learnt from previously adopted strategies and methods.
He emphasised the importance of conducting continuous and regular random tests. He also stressed that every effort should be made to provide the results within a short period of time. No matter whether the PCR tests are done by a private hospital or the Government, it is mandatory to quarantine the person until the results are released, and PCR tests conducted in private hospitals should be closely monitored by the Ministry of Health, the President noted.
Isolation of close associates and areas after COVID-infected persons are detected is being carried out as an immediate measure to prevent the spread of the virus. In addition to this, curfew will be imposed with the objective of containing the disease. Therefore, the President instructed the Police to strictly enforce the curfew once it is declared.
It was also decided to suspend travel between districts except for the purpose of essential services, including the distribution of goods.
The Head of the Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival Basil Rajapaksa said that essential goods will be distributed in areas where curfew is in force, as in the past.
Rajapaksa also said that the program will be implemented by assigning responsibilities to district and divisional secretaries, grama niladharis, and local government representatives; and the monthly elders’ allowance will be handed over at the doorstep similar to previous occasions.
Steps have also been taken to provide a bag of essential goods worth Rs. 10,000 to those under quarantine at homes.
In his remarks on TV, Army Commander Silva assured that the Rs. 5,000 allowance will be provided for low income families in the Western Province during the quarantine curfew period.
