26 August 2021 03:12 pm Views - 2514
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today urged the government to extend the lockdown in accordance with the heath expert advice.
“Just as much as we have supported the current ten day lockdown, the whole country will support an extension of it,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said in a statement.
“Mangala Samaraweea, Raja Mahendran, President Council D. S Wijesinghe and eminent personality Gowri Thawarasah has passed away due to COVID. Six people whom I know also passed away recently. There is a rapid spread of COVID. There have been 5000 COVID related deaths since August 7. Three thousand deaths have taken place within the last 20 days. This a high rate of deaths. Statistics that are available are questionable. There is a rapid spread of the disease. What is happening now is dealing with those who are already infected. We have to reduce the spread. The government declared a ten day lock down. It has received everyone’s support, It is not a sufficient period as per the medical advice. Another two week lockdown is required,” he said.
“The other factor is the economic damage that can be caused by a lockdown. We have reached a point where the damage which would cause by a lockdown is far greater than the damage that would cause by not having a lockdown. The remedy fir this is to to go immediately to the IMF. We have already received $ 720 million from the IMF for COVID control,” he added.(Yohan Perera)