COVID-19: Fifteen more test positive bringing total to 43

Pix by Pradeep Pathirana

By Ajith Siriwardane
Fifteen more people were tested positive to the COVID-19 infection yesterday bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 43, Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe said.  

Six patients diagnosed early yesterday included the wife of the 52-year-old tour guide earlier tested positive to the infection, two others one from Marawila and the other from Kelaniya, a 25-year-old man from Udugampola who arrived from Qatar and two people, one from Germany and the other from Britain. Nine more patients were tested positive for coronavirus by yesterday evening.    

Addressing a news briefing of the National Operation Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak in Colombo, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said 2,258 people were undergoing quarantine at 16 centres while 203 people were under observation at hospitals on the suspicion of having contracted the virus.   

He said around 1500-2000 who had arrived in the country from Iran, South Korea and Italy between March 1 and 9 have not been quarantined and that 800 out of them are residents of Puttalam District. “They have been asked to self quarantine. Police will keep a close look on them and stick a poster on their houses. We may even have to restrict movement in Puttalam District,” he said.  

The Army Commander confirmed that an army officer engaged in quarantine activities of Sri Lankans returning from Italy is among the 34 individuals tested positive to the Covid-19 infection. DIG Ajith Rohana said so far, 548 people had arrived from Italy, South Korea and Iran between March 1 and 15 before the quarantine process began have now registered with the police. “We have received about 3000 phone calls to report such cases. However, some information has been duplicated. We have assigned more telephone numbers to inform such information. They are: 0112444480, 0112444481, 0115978720, 0115978730, 0115978734,” he said.  

DIG Rohana said police was trying to locate a French national who had associated with a COVID-19 infected Sri Lankan. Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said the Welikanda Base Hospital has been converted into a COVID-19 treatment centre.   

She said they have had discussions on restricting people moving around in the Puttalam District to curb the spread of the virus but no final decision had been taken so far.