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By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 detections yesterday exceeded 260,000 with the detections of 1,883 COVID-19 positive persons.
The Health Promotion Bureau states that 16,279 tests were carried out yesterday.
The patients detected yesterday include 1,815 persons linked to the New Year cluster. The cumulative patient count of the Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda, Prisons and New Year clusters have risen to 253,429.
The cumulative patient count includes 158,705 persons from the New Year cluster, 82,785 persons from the Peliyagoda cluster, 7,055 persons from the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 persons from the Divulapitiya cluster.
In addition to this, 5,243 Sri Lankan returnees from overseas and 328 foreigners are also among the country’s COVID-19 patient count.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 260,972 COVID-19 patients have been detected to date. This includes 61,559 persons from Colombo, 45,378 persons from Gampaha, 28,799 persons from Kalutara, 13,891 persons from Kurunegala, and 13,305 persons from Kandy.
During the third wave, 29,262 persons from Colombo, 26,844 persons from Gampaha, and 21,741 persons from Kalutara have contracted the virus.
The district distribution of COVID-19 patients takes into account the patients detected on Wednesday, of which 365 were from Colombo, 254 were from Kalutara, 221 were from Gampaha, 138 were from Galle, and 122 were from Ratnapura.
A total of 1,864 COVID-19 patients were detected on Wednesday, including 1,782 persons from the New Year cluster, 78 Sri Lankan returnees from overseas and four persons from the Prisons cluster.
At present, 30,055 persons are under medical care and hospitals are observing 1,084 persons suspected of having COVID-19.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, 1,888 persons were discharged from hospitals yesterday, raising the country’s COVID-19 recoveries to 227,840.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Inspectors’ Union (PHIU) yesterday raised concerns about the Delta variant, saying the current COVID-19 control program in the country was not being carried out with a proper understanding of the spread of the variant in the country.
“The Delta variant has been detected in several areas in the country. Authorities must carry out necessary tests regarding the Delta variant across the island and provide us with the correct results,” PHIU President Upul Rohana said.
However, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena yesterday denied the spread of the Delta variant.
“At this point, it is only the initial patients with the Delta variant that have been detected. We carried out testing on their contacts but have not yet detected the Delta variant in them,” he said.
The DGHS went on to say that necessary tests are being carried out and that special testing kits have been brought down for this purpose. In addition to this, genome sequencing is also being carried out.
