COVID-19: Officials confident of controlling outbreak
Insists all cases connected to Minuwangoda cluster, while experts say it's time to call it community spread
As many health experts reiterated that the probability of community transmission of COVID-19 having begun in Sri Lanka was “very high”, officials in all sectors battling the latest Minuwangoda cluster flare-up were adamant that it was not so. Referring to data issued by Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit and the Operations Centre, ministry spokesperson & Deputy Director of the Medical Research Institute (MRI), Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara said that for the time being, “all the cases that we have found are having a known link” to Minuwangoda.
“Some patients we found in other parts of the country, the Epidemiology Unit says it can link to the Minuwangoda cluster and because of that scientifically the unit has declared that they can’t say it (the infection) is in society. What they say is that still it is a cluster,” he said.
‘Community transmission’, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is defined as countries experiencing larger outbreaks of local transmission, defined through an assessment of factors which include:
Large numbers of cases not linkable to transmission chains
Large numbers of cases from sentinel laboratory surveillance or increasing positive tests through sentinel samples (routine systematic testing of respiratory samples from established laboratories) Multiple unrelated clusters in several areas of the country
When asked about the all-important ‘source’ of the Minuwangoda cluster which mushroomed with Brandix Apparel Limited’s facility there as the base, Dr. Bandara conceded that they are still looking for it.
What is the plan in case community transmission begins in the country?
There is a probability of community transmission occurring, said Dr. Bandara, pointing out that the management plan for communicable diseases is handled by the Epidemiology Unit. The Health Ministry discusses these activities daily and they include increasing the RT-PCR testing capacity and the bed capacity in hospitals.
“We can perform 5,000 tests per day but if there is a need we can increase it to 7,000. On Monday we performed 6,896 tests. It takes a total of around 12 hours for the results to be given as it includes sample preparation time and running the machine,” he said.
There is no fear of the samples being unsuitable for testing as they are in viral transport media (VTM) and are also kept in air-conditioned rooms, was the answer to the query about the repercussions of delays.
Referring to hospital bed-capacity, he said that the Health Ministry has a strategy of resource mobilization. As of Wednesday, there were 2,304 beds in 14 hospitals (there are about 450 beds vacant), with another 17 hospitals available if the need arises. Currently, no COVID-19 patients are occupying the 146 beds available in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and more can be arranged.
When asked about concerns that people were being
dragged out of their homes to be sent into quarantine centres, Dr. Bandara said that the dignity of people need to be ensured as they are not culprits. On the other hand, the country also needs to stop the spread of the virus. It is the State Intelligence Service and the Tri-Forces which are capable of engaging in this task.
“Sometimes, people panic and flee or fight. This is unnecessary as isolation and quarantine are the way. If public compliance is good there is no need to use any kind of force for quarantine activities,” he added.