Chinese woman at IDH tested positive for coronavirus

A 43 year-old female Chinese national who arrived in Sri Lanka from Hubei, China has been tested positive for the new coronavirus yesterday making her the first case of positive coronavirus reported in Sri Lanka.

Chief Epidemiologist of the Epidemiology Unit, Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said the female patient who is in her forties had arrived in Sri Lanka on January 19 as a tourist.

After she developed symptoms of fever, she had been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Angoda on the January 25.

“The first test on the patient was positive for the virus. We have sent a second sample to the Medical Research Institute at Borella for further examination. In the meantime, we will continue to treat her as a patient positive for new coronavirus at the IDH,” Dr. Samaraweera told the Daily Mirror.

He said there were some other patients being treated as suspected cases for the virus but added that he couldn’t come up with the exact number of suspected patients at the moment we contacted him.

Meanwhile, he said there was no need for the public to panic over the incident and that there was no need to wear face masks etc. “We will advise people to take precautionary measures if and when there is a need,” Dr. Samaraweera said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)