Army Chief urges factories, offices to follow health guidelines

● Where employees lodge, they have to maintain these basic health guidelines ● Factories with large number of employees, must ensure that all health systems are in place

Army Chief Lt. General Shavendra Silva yesterday urged all factories, organisations and offices, both private and stateowned, to strictly adhere to the health guidelines issued to them by the Health Ministry in order to prevent a further spread of the COVID19 within their workforce.

The total number of positive cases from Colombo has shot up to 16

Silva told Daily Mirror that these health guidelines which include wearing face masks, washing hands and maintaining social distance should be practiced immediately, especially in factories where there was a large number of employees. “Factories are presently working but if they take all the precautions then the risk of COVID-19 spreading is less if they have all the health practices in place.

Especially factories that have a large number of employees, they must try to ensure that they have all health systems in place. They must speak to their employees and inform them that even where they lodge, they have to maintain these basic health guidelines,” Silva said.

“At this moment, all managements must try to aim that within their organisations, no one gets infected with the coronavirus,” he added. Till last evening, the Minuwangoda cluster linked to the Brandix factory had reached above 1,440 which include seven Brandix workers who were detected from their other branches including their head office in Kollupitiya.