‘Only the range of groups tested will give a reading whether caseload is dropping or not’
Sri Lanka which is in lockdown needs to keep a close eye on the situation to check whether the number of infections and deaths is coming down.
This was the call from public health expert
Prof. Kamini Mendis who reiterated that such monitoring should be transparent. There should be clarity on how testing is being carried out to assess whether case numbers are reducing because of the lockdown.
To get an accurate reading whether the case-load is coming down, there is a need to know whom we are testing, said this Professor Emeritus of the University of Colombo and Public Health and Malaria Expert formerly of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“If some of these tests are being carried out on COVID-19 positive people after 14 days to check whether they are free of the infection to be released from treatment centres, this testing will not give us a true picture of the degree of spread,” she said, pointing out that then these test results give us no indication of the actual new cases. Prof. Mendis said: “The range of categories that need to be tested include people in the community; the patients who walk into hospital OPDs; the contacts of people who become positive; and those who are referred for testing with symptoms of COVID-19. To know whether the COVID-19 infections are coming down, we need to know who exactly is being tested.”
Then and only then will Sri Lanka know whether the situation is getting better or worse and on which finding, short-term decisions can be made, she said.
Making use of full potential of lockdowns
Focusing on the lockdown, Prof. Mendis said that keeping a tight rein on people’s movement for four or five days and then releasing it for a day will not serve the purpose, as people flock to shops to buy their stuff. When people are told that the lockdown would be eased on a certain day to get supplies, it is an invitation, naturally, to rush out of their homes. This is the worst thing for a COVID19 spread. Ideally, we should have the shops selling provisions, vegetables and fruit and also pharmacies open. One person from one house can be allowed to leave their home and buy what they require. This will not lead to crowding and people who are aware of the dangers of the disease will take precautions.
“As has been proven during the pandemic by the experiences of other countries as well as our own, the transmission of the virus can be effectively controlled through these measures. This is why lockdowns should be used to their fullest potential,” she said.
She explained that with farmers allowed to cultivate their land so that there is no food shortage, like in earlier lockdowns, we should allow the vegetable and fruit lorries to operate and choonpaan trishaws to sell their bakery products. It is just a logistical and organizational issue that the administrators at ground-level in their own areas can handle with efficiency.