Economy too tenuous for lockdown: Govt.

Wednesday, 17 February 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cabinet Co-Spokesman Udaya Gammanpila says country cannot bear another lockdown
Says debt and job losses too steep to allow sweeping curfews
Calls on public to avoid tourists travelling in bio-bubbles

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Cabinet Co-Spokesman Udaya Gammanpila

Sri Lanka’s economic situation, including high debt repayments, made lockdowns impractical and unfeasible, Cabinet Co-Spokesman Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday, backing doubling down on

social distancing guidelines to help tackle the new variant.

Gammanpila responding to questions at the weekly Cabinet press briefing, pointed out that Melbourne was locked down for the fourth time after 13 COVID-19 patients were found but such a step would not be possible in Sri Lanka as the country was already grappling with serious economic impact after the last country-wide lockdown in 2020.

“A country like Sri Lanka that is debt-ridden does not have the economic strength to keep the country under lockdown. Even though we want it we don’t have the ability to do that. We saw that even with a two-and-a-half month curfew the economic impact was serious with thousands of people losing their jobs and struggling without livelihoods. So we will have to focus on enforcing healthcare and social distancing guidelines instead,” he said.

Gammanpila called on the public to follow the example of the staff at IDH who he lauded for treating the highest number of COVID-19 patients without employee infections. However, other hospital employees have been infected with one doctor dying from the illness recently.

The spokesman also appealed to the public to avoid bio-bubbles typically used to contain tourists.

“There are groups of tourists moving around in bio-bubbles and locals should avoid them to ensure greater protection from COVID-19,” he added.