Medical professionals stress need to go for two-week lockdown

While saying that it will not be long before the hospitals are flooded with patients, completely inundated and the medical staff are stretched way beyond their capacity, resulting in a serious breakdown of our health sector, Medical Professionals demanded the Government to go for a two-week lockdown or curfew.

In a statement, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) along with the Government Medical Officers Association, Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) and Sri Lanka Medical Intercollegiate Committee (SMIC) representing all medical professional colleges made the request to the Government.

"As the current state of the infection is of very high transmissibility, it does not appear as if any of the steps implemented so far have been good enough or effective enough to achieve any kind of control of the infection," they highlighted.

"It is known to scientists that when the detected number of cases in the community if over 3000, the actual number in the community is more than three times the number detected. When the infection is spreading this extensively, there is no country that has managed to contain the infection without a strict lockdown (or curfew) being declared. As such, while acknowledging the very significant short-term hardships the common man will have to face, we see no option other than a strictly implemented mobility restriction as an effective strategy that is left to contain the infection," they pointed out.

Therefore, the Medical Professionals demanded the government to go for a two week (14 day) lockdown or even a curfew, continuously and at a stretch, of the entire country, considering the following scientific observations.

1. 14 days would cover two cycles incubation periods of the infection that is likely to be adequate to break the chain of uncontrolled spread of the disease.

2. The infection is rampant in all provinces, making inter-provincial travel restrictions to be of no useful benefit at this stage of the outbreak.

3. As isolation of Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions occur with a 5 – 7day delay following the detection of cases, isolation of GN Divisions does not serve the purpose of restricting the transmission of infection. By the time the GN divisions are isolated, the infection with an inherent very high transmissibility has spread way beyond the GN divisions.

4. Country-wide lockdown for just a few days at a stretch will not have any significant effect on the case load or transmission of the disease as it does not cover even one incubation period to reduce infectivity and transmission of the infection.

5. Repeated, intermittent and short lockdowns, with people coming together for work in enclosed areas following this, will not have any benefit on the economy as it will only create a scenario that will only increase the numbers of COVID-19 cases within these premises.

6. Letting people go out according to National Identity Card numbers is unlikely to serve any purpose at this stage of infection characterised by very high transmissibility.

7. Allowing public transport with seated passengers, 25% of capacity of customers in supermarkets, restaurants (dinning in), hotels, rest houses, shopping malls, shops etc will increase the number of cases at this stage of spread of infection in the community.

In addition, they said a 14-day complete lockdown or a curfew at a stretch at this crucial juncture would have a much healthier impact on the economy, in the formal as well as the informal sectors, and the health sector, rather than isolating sections of the country randomly or by inter- provincial travel restrictions.

"Upon completion of two weeks, while people will have to continue to adhere to public health measures with facial masks and social distancing , the Government will have to continue with the restrictions that have been stated at present over few more months," they added. (Sheain Fernandopulle)