COVID-19 cases rise ; concerns on reliability of figures

COLOMBO (News1st): Eight people tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday raising the total number of cases up to 2687, official figures showed. The patients are family members of the staff of the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre, officials said, as the number of patients in the cluster rose to 542. "Currently we have quarantined 647 people from all divisional secretariats in the Polonaruwa District," Sanjaya Seniviratne, a regional epidemiologist said. Concerns were raised on whether the government is lying regarding coronavirus figures and the aid received to combat the pandemic. United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said he will complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department against officials who lie to the public. He pointed out that although the government had previously announced that they received foreign aid, they are now denying such claims. He claimed that authorities are not revealing the exact location of coronavirus patients, and have not decided to conduct more PCR tests. "Nobody is believing government officials. The faith has been lost," Wickremesinghe added. An opposition parliamentarian said that the health services chief had refused to divulge the exact number of coronavirus patients and the PCR tests under the Right to Information Act. "We submitted a written request... asking for the number of PCR tests, the number of random PCR tests conducted, and how many of them came back positive," Ajith P. Perera, a Samagi Jana Balawegaya candidate said. He claimed that Dr. Anil Jasinghe, the director general of health services had not released this information as he has "become a victim of the politicization of this entire program". "The highly respected medical profession is now being demeaned by concealing this information on the true situation of the spread of the virus in the country," Perera remarked.