Risk of community spread of COVID-19 not entirely eliminated: Dr. Jude Jayamaha

COLOMBO (News 1st):  The risk of COVID-19 spreading among the community in Sri Lanka has not been eliminated, even though positive infections are not confirmed from the community, health officials warned. "New cases are mainly confirmed among Sri Lankan migrant workers who are being repatriated back to the country; however, even in countries where the pandemic is successfully controlled, a resurgence of the virus among the community is still possible," Dr. Jude Jayamaha, the Chief Virologist at the Department of Virology of the Medical Research Institute told News 1st on Sunday (Sep 06) Hence, Dr. Jayamaha noted that the general public is often reminded to follow the recommended health and hygiene practices including wearing face masks, washing hands, and maintaining physical distances by health authorities, to further prevent any form of community spread. He emphasized that although there are no new COVID-19 clusters in the society, the risk of the virus spreading within the society still remains high. Dr. Jayamaha went onto note that PCR tests are being conducted on random samples obtained from society through Medical Officers of Health. "These samples are obtained from 12 various divisions of society, including those coming from multiday fishing vessels, homeless people, those from rehabilitation camps; and the PCR tests are conducted at 21 laboratories," Dr. Jayamaha said. According to Dr. Jayamaha, separate PCR tests are conducted on random samples obtained from individuals with symptoms like cough and common cold who visit Out Patient Departments (OPDs) at hospitals. Such random samples are obtained at 54 OPDs across the island.