29 Srilankan Navy personnel reported positive: covid19 

In Sri Lanka, twenty nine Navy personnel are among the 38 people reported positive of COVID-19 yesterday bringing the total number of active cases to 254. Army Commander Shavendra Silva said, the 29 personnel at the Welisara Navy Camp have contracted the virus during the recent search operation carried out in Suduwella area to find out suspected COVID-19 patients. He said, the navy camp has been declared as an isolated area and requested all sailors who went on leave after quarantine duty, to report back immediately to undergo PCR tests.

The country’s fight against COVID is led by health and defence forces and the development has created alarm among the personnel. The country has seen over 125 cases during last six days, which is a rise above normal. Curfew was relaxed in 21 out of 25 districts from this Monday, but the weekend will see countrywide curfew again. Seven persons have died and 107 recovered out of 368 infected patients reported so far.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry decided to obtain facilities at private hospitals to increase the number of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests carried out daily. The authorities had said that around 800 PCR tests are carried out daily by the government hospitals and that the facilities at private hospitals should be obtained to increase the number of PCR tests.