Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Wednesday, 29 September 2021 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
Daily COVID-19 detections remained below 1,000 for the second consecutive day with 932 persons testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday.
The necessity of extending the ongoing quarantine curfew after 1 October has been questioned given the drop in COVID-19 detections. A decision on the ongoing quarantine curfew will be announced by tomorrow, National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Head Gen. Shavendra Silva yesterday said.
According to Gen. Silva, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will announce if the quarantine curfew will be lifted on 1 October or extended further. “The Health Services Director General has already been instructed to prepare necessary guidelines,” he added.
All COVID-19 patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. The Health Promotion Bureau states that 7,231 PCR tests were conducted yesterday.
On Monday, 6,655 PCR tests and 2,332 rapid antigen tests were carried out and 982 persons from the New Year cluster and one person from the Prisons cluster tested positive for COVID-19.
Sri Lanka’s total COVID-19 detections have risen to 515,524. This includes 410,824 persons from the New Year cluster, 82,785 persons from the Peliyagoda cluster, 8,745 persons from the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 persons from the Divulapitiya cluster.
The country’s imported cases consist of 6,937 Sri Lankans and 328 foreigners.
The district distribution of COVID-19 patients shows 109,853 persons from Colombo, 91,900 persons from Gampaha, 50,477 persons from Kalutara, 30,475 persons from Galle, and 24,782 persons from Kurunegala.
During the third wave of the pandemic, 77,556 persons from Colombo, 73,366 persons from Gampaha, and 43,419 persons from Kalutara tested positive for COVID-19. At present, 46,651 persons are under medical or home-based care and 2,802 persons suspected of having COVID-19 are under observation.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 743 persons were released from COVID-19 care yesterday, raising the country’s COVID-19 recoveries to 456,087.