4 May 2021 04:33 pm Views - 10388
The trend of identifying COVID patients in the country seemed to be going out of hand at present, Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) President Dr. Padma Gunaratne said.
Addressing a media briefing, she said the authorities should take this seriously and take pertinent action without further delay in order to nip this at the bud.
“When 1,800 plus COVID patients are detected daily, there are three to four times that number undetected in the community,” she underlined.
“As the number of COVID patients increases, the bed and ICU capacity in hospitals gradually reduce. The hospitals have almost reached their full capacity and consequently, some COVID patients have to remain at their homes due to the delays in taking them to hospitals.
Therefore, Dr. Gunaratne said health authorities should provide people with sensible knowledge as to how they should quarantine themselves at home.
Moreover, she also pointed out that when a family member gets contracted with the virus, the possibility of other family members getting infected is dramatically higher than the last time.
“This is due to the high transmissibility of the new variant spreading in the country unlike the previous one,” she said.
Dr. Gunaratne also raised the importance to impose travel restriction as the number of patients is increasing alarmingly. (Sheain Fernandopulle)