Colombo Mayor warns situation serious

• CMC has secured the support of the private sector and foreign donors to help deal with the pandemic
• Recent coronavirus deaths and infections have mostly been from the Colombo District
• Situation in Colombo is dangerous
• Govt. and CMC taking all measures to control situation in city

By Easwaran Rutnam

Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake has warned that the situation in Colombo is serious with the Covid-19 death toll increasing and more people being infected.The recent coronavirus deaths and infections have mostly been from the Colombo District. Ms. Senanayake has appealed to retired Public Health Inspectors (PHI) to return to service and has also spoken to the Medical Faculty to obtain the services of interns to support the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

The recent coronavirus deaths and infections have mostly been from the Colombo District.

Ms. Senanayake has appealed to retired Public Health Inspectors (PHI) to return to service and has also spoken to the Medical Faculty to obtain the services of interns to support the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).
“I think this is as serious as it can be. Every one of us should have this mindset where we take this as a serious issue. When we conduct 991 PCR tests a day and detect 249 positive cases, it is a serious issue. You know, even if you have five positive cases in a city, I look at it as a serious issue. The whole problem right now is that people don’t take this seriously,” she told the Daily Mirror in an interview. She said that the government, together with the CMC, is taking every effort to try and control the situation in Colombo.

“And we are in a state where we have actually come to a controlling level where we don’t see an increase, but it’s static, but it hasn’t also gone down at the same time. So I think every one of us should have this mindset to know that Covid-19 is a pandemic, it’s a global pandemic, and it’s a very serious issue,” she said.

She also said that the CMC has secured the support of the private sector and foreign donors to help deal with the pandemic. Senanayake said that the CMC has been offered 5,000 sanitary packs for women from Australia Aid through the Family Planning Association, dignity packs for women from USAID, 100,000 medical surgical masks from the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government, KF94 face masks from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, gloves and masks from the Shanghai Municipal Government, medical equipment from Taipei City Government and air purifiers from Singapore.

• Ms. Senanayake has appealed to retired Public Health Inspectors (PHI) to return to service and has also spoken to the Medical Faculty to obtain the services of interns to support the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC)

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