Aggressive testing and contact tracing to curb leaks from Lankapura
158 close contacts and random tests of people in adjacent areas negative, says Dr. Anil Jasinghe
Extensive testing and meticulous contact tracing got underway in the area when a minor employee of the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat in the Polonnaruwa district tested positive for COVID- 19 on Wednesday, said the DirectorGeneral (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe.
The closest or immediate contacts ( first ring) of the person including his family as well as those at the Divisional Secretariat and also the Pradeshiya Sabha close by were tested, said the DG, explaining that 158 RT-PCR tests were negative.
Dr. Jasinghe said that they are awaiting the test results of the employee’s wife and two children who are at the Punanai quarantine centre. Three tests done on the employee who is being treated at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) are positive.
Assuring that “a lot more tests” will be done, over 300 for the second ring of contacts, Dr. Jasinghe said that another 68 random samples from the adjoining Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas of Tamankaduwa and Hingurakgoda were also tested to ensure that there has been no leak. “All 68 tests are negative.”
The number of tests carried out across the country has exceeded 160,000, it is learnt.
Explaining that there is a possibility of encountering patients such as the minor employee in this way through pre-existing clusters (in this case the Kandakadu cluster), Dr. Jasinghe said that the Health Ministry along with other stakeholders is taking every possible measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through such patients.
Dr. Jasinghe stressed that Sri Lanka’s performance in curbing the spread of COVID-19 has been good. Comparing and contrasting the number of days taken to detect 2,500 cases in Sri Lanka, he says that the first 500 cases were detected in 90 days; 501-1,000 cases in 23 days; 1,001-1,500 cases in 9 days; 1,501-2,000 cases in 27 days; and 2,001-2,500 cases in 17 days. (See graphic)
The Lankapura Divisional Secretariat is not functioning as all employees are in home quarantine following the detection of an employee with COVID-19, a source at ground- level told the Sunday Times.
The source said that when an employee of the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat who had visited the Kandakadu Treatment & Rehabilitation Centre tested positive while in quarantine, those at the Divisional Secretariat underwent RT-PCR tests on July 24 and 27.
The results of the July 24 tests were negative but a 52- year- old minor employee tested positive in the July 27 tests and has been sent to the NIID for treatment, the source added.
With regard to why those in the Galle prison were tested for COVID19, the are a ’ s Re g i o n a l Epidemiologist Dr. Venura K. Singarachchi said that an inmate of the Senapura Rehabilitation Centre had been taken to the prison on July 4 as he had to attend a court hearing. Subsequently, on July 10, he was sent to a quarantine centre, where he tested negative when checked.
“However, when he was re-tested, after 14 days on July 24, he was positive and we believe he caught the virus at the quarantine centre rather than elsewhere. To be sure though, we tested all those who had come into contact with him at the Galle prison,” he said.
Around 237 tests have been done on both staff and prisoners of the Galle prison, all of which were negative.
Positives at the Lankapura Divisional Secretariat
The situation in Rajanganaya is settling, the area’s MOH, Dr. Sandya Abeyrathne said.
Most of the 20 people who tested positive from the area and were treated at the NIID have been discharged and are back at home. The first patient was detected on July 10, a contact of the Kandakadu cluster.
All contacts of these 20 patients, meanwhile, have been in home quarantine and have tested negative so far.
Galle prison testing
Rajanganaya
Kahathuduwa
The tests on all the contacts in quarantine of a visiting lecturer at the Kandakadu centre from Kahathuduwa who had tested positive are free of the coronavirus, the Sunday Times learns.
The visiting lecturer who tested positive on July 17 and his family – wife and two children (aged 6 and 11 years) – also affected by COVID-19 are at the NIID. His mother-in-law who was a contact is negative.
Gampaha
“There is no problem now,” assured the Gampaha Medical Officer of Health ( MOH), Dr. Subasha Subasinghe when contacted with regard to the four persons who were detected with COVID-19 recently in the area.
The four were a driver, an
instructor from the Kandakadu centre, a teacher and a female relative of the driver. The driver and the instructor who have recovered have been discharged from the Minuwangoda Hospital on July 28, while the other two are still receiv
ing treatment there.
“Around 160 contacts of the patients have left the quarantine centres or are out of home quarantine now,” said Dr. Subasinghe, adding that around 300 RT-PCR tests have turned up negative.