For the first time since the eruption of the contagion in SL

By Suresh Perera

The spike in Covid-19 infections has reached alarming proportions with positive numbers exceeding one thousand per day over the past three days, health officials said.

On Thursday alone, 1,491 persons tested positive for the virus from many parts of the country, according to figures released by the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit at 6.00 pm.

This was the first time that the number of positive cases topped one thousand for three consecutive days since the outbreak of the contagion in Sri Lanka in 2020, they said.

With the latest positive cases, the total number of infections in the country shot up to 108,154 as of April 29, 2021. The number of persons who had recovered and discharged from hospitals so far stood at 95,445.

Army Commander and head of the anti-Covid drive, Gen. Shavendra Silva said that any area considered “high risk” will be placed under isolation without prior notice as part of concerted efforts to stem the ongoing wave of infections.

He said that if the situation escalated with infections continuing to spiral, buildings belonging to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and tourist hotels will converted into temporary treatment centres.

Initially, facilities of the SLA will be used and in case there’s a shortfall depending on emerging infection numbers, tourist hotels will also be drawn in, the Army chief told journalists in Colombo.

Scientists of the Sri Jayewardenepura University have confirmed that the Corona virus now sweeping across the country is a virulent variant found in the United Kingdom. It is, however, not still known how the strain sneaked into Sri Lanka to wreak havoc.

Many areas in eight districts continue to remain isolated as the highly contagious strain with a bigger viral load continued to rage largely due to unrestricted travel, shopping in crowded marketplaces and festivities during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, health officials said.

Unlike earlier, most patients now show symptoms and need immediate ICU treatment, they added.