News

Govt. hospitals should introduce drive-through testing – medical don

Published

5 years ago

2021/06/4

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Drive-through PCR testing was one of the safest ways of testing whether a person had contracted the disease and should be conducted by government hospitals, academic and physician, Prof. Arjuna de. Silva told The Island yesterday.

Prof.de Silva is the Head of the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency (SLADA).

He said medical associations played a vital role in making the government implement a lockdown, and the government had to increase PCR testing during the lockdown.

“I know that the lockdown is affecting the economy. That is why we must get the best out of this sacrifice, and we need to find out what the hotspots are. For this, we must keep testing. When the positive rate is above 5% of total tests, usually we think that this is an indication that not enough tests are being conducted.”

Prof. de Silva said that in recent days, testing had dropped and one of the reasons for it was the banning of private hospitals from conducting drive-through testing. He conceded that the government had a valid reason for the ban. However, it should start such tests at the state-run hospitals or other state institutions, he said.

“Drive-through testing was a very safe method because testing takes place in an open area and people are tested in their own vehicles. In other countries people are even vaccinated in this manner. We must think outside the box.”

Prof.de Silva added that around 70% of COVID-19 patients were asymptomatic but they could still spread the disease. That made testing doubly important because as the health officials and medical professionals did not have a real understanding of what the ground realities were.

On Wednesday Prof. De Silva also urged the government not to open up the country at once and to study the developments during the present country wide travel restrictions to identify potential hotspots.

“Open the safe areas first and then open up the rest of the country. We need to increase testing to identify what is really going on. If we open up everything once, any gain we have made in the past two weeks will be lost.”

All News Advertisement

News

Some provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill are inconsistent with Constitution

Published

59 seconds ago

2026/06/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Supreme Court has determined that several provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill are inconsistent with the Constitution and, therefore, require approval by a special majority in Parliament, Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne informed the House yesterday.

Announcing the Court’s determination, the Speaker said that Clause 14, which introduces proposed Sections 12A and 12B, and Clause 18, containing proposed Sections 17A, 17B and 17C, could only be enacted with a two-thirds majority.

However, the Court has also held that those provisions could be passed by a simple majority if they are amended in accordance with the recommendations set out in its determination.

The Speaker said that subject to those specific provisions, the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill may be approved by a simple majority in Parliament.

The Bill was referred to the Supreme Court following petitions filed under Article 121(1) of the Constitution challenging its constitutionality.

The Court’s determination was communicated to Parliament yesterday.

by Saman Indrajith

News

Dalada Perahera for a global project

Published

2 mins ago

2026/06/10

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Sri Dalada Perahera has been selected for a global project, titled “Promoting Tourism Development through Intellectual Property,” which is being implemented by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

This project proposal, presented by the Plurinational State of Bolivia with the support of India, was approved at the 34th session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) held last year.

A preliminary discussion regarding the implementation of this programme was held recently at the Sri Lanka Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development.

News

India A beat Sri Lanka A by 8 runs in thriller

Published

10 hours ago

2026/06/9

Priyan

Sahan Arachchige played a crucial knock for Sri Lanka A

India A beat Sri Lanka A by eight runs in the first match of the tri series being played at Dambulla.

Batting first India A powered by almost a run a ball century by Rutraj Gaikwad [101 off 114 balls] and a half ton from Tilak Varma [60] posted 277/6. Mohammed Shiraz captured 2 wickets including the wicket of India’s 15 year old batting sensation Vaibhav Sooriyawanshi who was caught by Sahan Arachchige for 14.

In the chase Sri Lanka were in the hunt with 40 plus scores from Niroshan Dikwella, Avishka Fernando and Saddera Samarawickrema and a 72 ball 74 from Shan Arachchige but lost the momentum after Arachchige fell with the score on 262. Sri Lanka A fall short by 8 runs losing their last three wickets for the addition of seven runs !

SCORES:
INDIA A 277/6 in 50 overs [Priyansh Arya 32, Rutraj Gaikwad 101, Tilak Varma 60; Mohamed Shiraz 2-67] beat SRI LANKA A 269 in 48.5 overs [Niroshan Dickwella 47, Avishka Fernando 45, Sadeera Samarawickrama 46, Sahan Arachchige 74; Arshad Khan 2-24, Anukul Roy 2-49, Ayush Badoni 2-46, Vipraj Nigam 2-46] by 8 runs