17% of symptomatic patients require oxygen treatment

Wednesday, 12 May 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The State Ministry of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control yesterday stated that 17% of all symptomatic patients require oxygen treatment and, of them, between 4% and 5% of the patients are directed to intensive care units (ICU).

The State Ministry added that 25% to 28% of all COVID-19 patients are symptomatic.

The third wave of the pandemic the country has been hit by has put Sri Lanka at an Alert Level 3 and the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 technical committee yesterday met for a discussion headed by State Minister Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle in order to review the measures implemented as well as measures that need to be implemented.

The participants include Health Services Director General Dr. Asela Gunawardena, Health Ministry Additional Secretary Dr. Sunil de Alwis, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, and other health officials.

They discussed the speed at which COVID-19 was spreading, PCR feasibility, quarantine, hospitalisation and treatment, oxygen levels, and death rate.

According to a statement issued by the State Ministry, the possibility of establishing a mechanism to monitor the efficiency of COVID-19 control measures and a telephone monitoring system was discussed, as was a testing strategy to prevent delays in issuing PCR results.

The need for admission criteria, transferring criteria, and discharge criteria was also discussed.

The participants also focused on issuing public health guidelines on what should be done when strict movement restrictions or complete lockdown is imposed.