• Says another fungal disease called Black Fungus is spreading in India  
• COVID-19 pandemic is a fatal blow to the already weakened economy   
• If medical experts advise to close the country, we must do it 

 By Yohan Perera   

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday urged the government to give priority to save lives from COVID-19 and from the new disease Black Fungus which is also spreading in India currently.   

“COVID-19 pandemic is spreading rapidly in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. In addition to the COVID outbreak in India, another fungal disease called Black Fungus is spreading. We must protect the people of the country from all these diseases. The Colombo office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a statement following discussions with a number of our medical experts recently. According to this announcement, it has predicted that the COVID-19 virus will spread rapidly in the country in the next few weeks,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said in a special statement.   

“Sri Lanka will have to focus on another matter. That is the shortage of vaccines in the country. It may be by end of this year or even next year for all the people of Sri Lanka to be vaccinated. Until then the people of the country must be protected. Therefore, it is the duty of the government to take further steps in accordance with medical advice. If the medical experts advise to close the country, we must do it,” he added.   

“Thereafter one could take weekly reports and check the spread of the virus. I don’t know whether there are other options. COVID-19 pandemic is a fatal blow to the already weakened economy. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the spread of diseases and save lives. If that is done, we can minimise the economic damage. I urge the government to save the lives of the people of this country. We can repair the damage done to the economy. However, one cannot repair the damage to human lives. The duty of the government is to protect the lives of the people,” he also said.   

• Sri Lanka will have to focus on another matter. That is the shortage of vaccines in the country