SL CONTROLLED PANDEMIC BETTER THAN MORE RESOURCED COUNTRIES: WHO COUNTRY HEAD
Almost 160 candidate vaccines; 23 in clinical trials and 15 candidate vaccines in phase three clinical trials Says the way we behave determines how the virus behaves
This was thanks to a well established public health system, especially the communicable disease surveillance and the proactive action that has been taken by the government
Sri Lanka has been able to control the COVID19 pandemic more effectively even with modest means than more resourced countries, World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative Dr. Razia Pendse said.
She told the media on Thursday evening that Sri Lanka, fortunately, had been one of the few countries with even modest means that has been able to control the pandemic more effectively than the even more resourced countries.
Dr. Pendse said this was thanks to a well established public health system, especially the communicable disease surveillance and the proactive action that has been taken by the government.
“The response in Sri Lanka has been guided by public health and science and this has helped in setting up all that was required very early on in the pandemic to set up the surveillance system to ramp up the testing capacity and to search capacity at hospitals in case more people were affected. Later on, when there were repatriations, setting up of quarantine facilities also helped in early diagnosing and managing the pandemic while ensuring that the capacity of the health systems were not overwhelmed. I must say that in the pandemic the role of other sectors have also been critical, so it was truly a whole of society and a whole of government approach. Community engagement has been critical because without involvement of communities it is difficult to control the spread of the virus,” she said.
Commenting on a possible COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Pendse said everyone is looking forward to having a vaccine and that there have been lot of research and development.
“Currently, there are almost 160 candidate vaccines of which 23 are already in clinical trials and of those 15 candidate vaccines are in phase three clinical trials. That means they have moved on into human trials.we hope we would be having a candidate vaccine that is effective and safe very soon,” she said.