TOLL OF COVID-19 CASES OF MINUWANGODA FACTORY CLUSTER CLIMBS TO 832

Woman factory worker not origin of existing cluster Respiratory diseases observed in other factory workers since Sept. 20

Woman, who first tested positive, developed symptoms on Sept. 28

Uncertain whether we will find out how the woman contracted the virus

Not confirmed whether Indians carried out audit in the factory 729 positive cases yesterday alone Total confirmed cases exceed 4,000 Active cases stood at 973

The total cases of the Minuwangoda factory cluster stood at 832 as of last night within just three days, the Information Department said. It said they were all employees attached to the apparel factory and were under quarantine process. A total of 729 positive cases were reported yesterday alone reporting the highest number of single day cases.

The total confirmed Covid-19 cases exceeded the 4,000 mark with 729 cases reported yesterday.

Accordingly, the total confirmed cases in Sri Lanka stood at 4,252 with 973 active cases.

The woman factory worker, who tested positive for COVID-19 at the Gampaha Hospital on Sunday, is not the origin of the prevailing cluster but there may have been other positive cases prior to the initial detection at the factory, Chief

Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said.

“When analyzing the details of the factory workers, we noticed that there has been respiratory diseases in some factory workers since September 20 even though the female factory worker, who first tested positive, had developed the symptoms on September 28,” he said. The symptoms appeared in the woman worker on September 28 and subsequently she went to the Gampaha

Hospital for treatment on September 30. Dr. Samaraweera said they were still in the process

of identifying how the cluster originated and how the woman contracted the virus.