Colombo identified as high-risk area for COVID: GMOA

The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) today said the Colombo district has been identified as a high-risk area for coronavirus in addition to the Gampaha District.

GMOA Secretary Dr Shenal Fernando told the media that the capacity of PCR tests should be increased to 10,000 a day.

Dr Fernando said the 6,000 PCR tests that are being conducted daily was not sufficient.

"To do that, the Coronavirus testing policies should be updated and the correct testing policies should be announced. We requested the Health Ministry officials to update the information relating to the PCR testing algorithm as soon as possible to identify positive patients," he said.

The Government should consider several criteria such as human capacity, the number of PCR tests and the technical capacity when increasing the number of PCR tests.

"The Health Promotion Bureau should identify the areas where COVID patients reported correctly. The GMOA requested the Health Promotion Bureau to make the public aware of the correct statistics relating to the spread of patients and their associates," Dr. Fernando added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)