Colombo (ECONOMYNEXT): Sri Lanka is searching for 36 passengers who had arrived in Sri Lanka in Malindo Air 0D-185 flight on March 17, after one person in the aircraft was confirmed to have Coronavirus Army Chief Shavendra Silva said.

The person had returned in the Kuala Lumpur – Colombo flight after a tour in Thailand and Indonesia.

“Another 36 persons had come in this aircraft with him,” General Silva said. “If you came with him, you should be in self-quarantine because your fellow traveler has been confirmed to have Covid-19.”

Ten contacts of the person in Puttalam were among 10 confirmed with have Coronavirus on March 31.

They turned out have Coronavirus after 19 contacts were tested at the request of the military, despite not having any symptoms.

Sri Lanka’s Government Medical Officers Association has called for random screening to begin with blood tests which give results fast.

Sri Lanka has confirmed 146 persons with Coronavirus so far and 21 have recovered including a Wave I case from Wuhan China.

Sri Lanka recorded the third death on April 01 when a person from Maradana area was confirmed to have Coronavirus.

He had gone to the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital in Thalapathpitiya, a cost recovery state hospital.

The staff at the Emergency Treatment Unit were dressed in protective gear and had kept him isolated while results of a test came back, Director of the hospital Rathnasiri Hewage told Sri Lanka’s Derana TV.
 
The 73-year old had been transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mulleriyawa but had died on admission.

UK’s National Health Service has established hotlines and a online call center and all patients are now required to call ahead and not to come to a hospital direct, whether or not they are suffering from Coronavirus symptoms.

General Silva said out of the 21 confirmed on March 21, 03 were from Akurana in Kandy, 10 from Puttalam and 06 from Beruwala.

“The persons in these areas should be very careful,” he said. “Not only should they be in home quarantine but everyone should maintain social distance.”

On April 02, pensioners are allowed to go to the bank to get their payments with the help of the military. They are being requested to call the Grama Sevaka (village headman) to get assistance to go to the bank.

Pharmacies would also be open for them to get medicine.

Sri Lanka has been aggressively hunting contacts and quarantining them in March.

Sri Lanka stopped all inbound travelers from March 19, after selectively quarantining Wave II arrivals from Korea and Europe.

Sri Lanka quarantined arrivals from China in the Wave I phase, along with Korea, going against the general World Health Organization advice not to close borders against China at the time.

Sri Lanka, Russia, Korea and Vietnam are among countries that are aggressively hunting Wave II infections after successfully containing Wave I from China.

Sri Lanka however is lagging behind in random testing and also testing suspected cases.

https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-hunting-for-covid-19-contacts-in-malindo-air-flight-as-coronavirus-toll-climbs-63476/