The armed forces have done a great job in tracing COVID-19 contact persons and facilitating the quarantine process (AFP)

The Government has announced that the schools and universities that had been indefinitely closed earlier in view of the COVID-19 pandemic would be reopened on May 11. Does it mean that the Government is confident that the pandemic would be wiped out from the country or at least it would sufficiently be under control by 
May 11? 
It is the hope and the prayer of all Sri Lankans that the country would emerge victorious in its struggle against the coronavirus as early as possible, but is there an assurance that we would succeed before May 11? If so, unlike the schools which small children attend, why have the authorities decided to open the universities in three stages? 
The rationale behind these plans may be the claims made by the Health Ministry officials that they have traced all contact persons of those who had already contracted the virus. They claim that they have successfully isolated the next possible COVID-19 patients in their homes and quarantine centres run by the armed forces and there is hardly any case that would possibly be reported from among others in the country. We hope and pray it to be so too. 
The coronavirus has invaded almost all countries in the world with the number of cases reported exceeding two million and the number of deaths being around 135,000 on Thursday (April 16). Many powerful countries including the most powerful United States of America have failed and are desperately struggling to cope with the situation. The US, the worst hit country, had reported 644,348 cases and 28,554 deaths by Thursday.

In fact, only a political hypocrite would deny that the fight against COVID-19 in Sri Lanka is successful, compared to many countries in the world. For the past 37 days since the first Sri Lankan national having reported to have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the daily detection of COVID- 19 patients has been fluctuating without exceeding 21 persons. 
Apart from the highly commendable dedication and the commitment on the part of the doctors and other health workers, Sri Lanka not having land borders with any country as it is an island and the late discovery of patients in the country was a great advantage for the authorities in their combat against the virus. By the time Sri Lanka reported its first COVID-19 case on March 11, many countries had gained a huge amount of experience through their successes and failures and it helped Sri Lanka tremendously in countering the disease locally. 
Before March 11, we know that the disease spreads through droplets of cough and sneeze, that the virus enters into bodies through the nose and the mouth and that the remedy for the spread of the virus is social distancing and frequent washing of hands as there is no medicine or vaccine for the disease. We were also able to realise the disastrous consequences of ignoring social distancing with the incidents like the “patient 31” in South Korea who had been instrumental in spreading the disease to more than 1000 persons. 

Also many countries by then had implemented various plans to track down the contact persons of those who already contracted the virus and had established various kinds of isolation facilities for persons and areas which we were able to implement here soon after the first local COVID-19 case was reported. 
In fact the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) says that it had requested the authorities to screen the visitors and returnees from other countries in late February; a measure that had been taken by many countries by then. We started such a screening process in mid March.
It is doubtful whether any past government in Sri Lanka other than that of  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would have deployed the armed forces to play a major role in resolving a health problem, such as the COVID-19. As a soldier himself, it was natural for the President to look first at the vast resources – human as well as physical - that are with the armed forces at a time when his Government had faced with a massive threat such as the coronavirus pandemic which was described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “defining global health crisis of our times.” 

"It is doubtful whether any past government in Sri Lanka other than that of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would have deployed the armed forces to play a major role in resolving a health problem, such as the COVID-19"

Though one may view this as an extension of a recent series of appointments of military officials to handle civilian affairs and despite there in fact being a possibility of this process being normalised, no one can deny the fact that no State or private institution could match the great job that had been done so far by the armed forces in tracing contact persons and facilitating the quarantine process.     
In any country, the Opposition political parties have been forced to support the governments’ efforts to combat the pandemic, despite them being well aware that the whole credit for the eradication of the disease would someday go to the ruling parties which would in turn exploit the situation to the core.  In fact, Opposition parties have no option other than supporting those efforts, in spite of the ruling parties taking political mileage out of the successes in this fight, as this is a life threatening issue.
In Sri Lanka this is more so, as the country started to decisively deal with the epidemic when a major election was around the corner and as the parliament had been dissolved by that time and island-wide curfew and the fear of virus contagion has engulfed the people, the Opposition parties have been totally out of the picture or “locked down.”  

It is against this backdrop that they cry foul at the Government’s apparent attempt to hold the election soon without giving them an opportunity to approach the people. Also they rightly point out that the whole successes that have been achieved in the fight against COVID-19 with great sacrifices by the health workers including doctors and the armed forces go down the drain, if the election process led to the spread of the disease in the country. However, it was ironic that they did not protest against the decision to reopen schools and universities in less than a month from now. 

As indicated by the social media, Sri Lankan people are highly divided on political party lines. If the election date is announced before the COVId-19 threat is wiped out, a hive of activity among people has to be expected once the election campaign starts. Such an activity taking place despite the virus threat still persisting would be disastrous. The GMOA still warns that the most difficult period is ahead. Hence, as Rev. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith sated yesterday at a press briefing it is prudent to hold the election few days after the last COVID -19 patient leaves the hospital. In fact, the result of the election is a foregone conclusion and it wouldn’t be changed by the difference of a few weeks.