30 August 2021 08:52 am Views - 134
By Easwaran Rutnam
Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena has rattled the Covid Task Force headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after testing positive for Covid, just minutes after attending the meeting on Friday.
Gunawardena sat next to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma at the weekly Covid Task Force meeting last Friday.
Prior to the commencement of the meeting he had interacted with Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, State Minister Sudarshani Fernandopulle and Principal Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga at tea, Daily Mirror learns. On Friday evening, Gunawardena announced that he had tested positive for the virus and had placed himself in isolation.
Sources said that both Alahapperuma and Lalith Weeratunga had on Saturday self-isolated themselves as they had lowered their masks while interacting with Gunawardena at tea. Fernandopulle had reportedly not had tea and had her mask on.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, and Army Commander General Shavendra Silva were among those who attended the Covid meeting. When contacted by Daily Mirror, Rambukwella said that he took an antigen test and the result was negative. The Minister said that Health Secretary Dr. S.H. Munasinghe and others from the Health Ministry who attended the meeting also took antigen tests. Incidentally, the Health Minister also attended an event on Saturday to accept Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines donated by the US.
The U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Alaina Teplitz was among those who attended the event. Meanwhile, the Cabinet will convene via Zoom today as a precaution.