ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s daily Coronavirus tests plunged to 17,159 on May 24 from 25,680 on May 21, as health authorities clamped new restrictions on private and volunteer testing with the country going on a two week lockdown as the health system headed for a breakdown.
On May 24, 2,971 new Covid-19 cases were recorded, down from 3,547 on May 21.
Sri Lanka has imposed a lockdown till June 07, as new cases spiraled out of control.
The Health Ministry barred private hospitals from conducting walk in tests and ordered tests only to be done after a doctor’s order, a practice followed in Western nations in the early days of the pandemic where the epidemic went out of control.
Ravi Kumudesh President of the Medical Laboratory Technologists Association slammed the decision.
“This requirement creates an un-necessary contact between a doctor and a patient,” he told reporters. “It allows doctors to earn a fee, but all this has to be paid by the people.”
According to report, private labs who do tests above the daily ceiling given by the government have been threatened with a ban on testing.
Those who test without a doctor’s order have also been threatened with a ban.
Sri Lanka’s testing on an ‘indication’ appears to be based on a ‘testing to diagnose’ strategy rather than a testing to trace strategy used by East Asian nations.
According to comments made on media, the restrictions on private testing may also have been done to reduce revenues and testing deemed ‘un-necessary’ by state authorities.
Sri Lanka generally tests a first contact about 5 to 6 days after contact which is the average incubation period and results are also delayed when cases spike.
In countries such as Vietnam two tests are conducted within 24 hours on first contacts in institutional quarantine not simply to diagnose but to determine whether second level contacts should be sent on institutional quarantine and tested, observers familiar with the practice say.
In a current outbreak, which is the worst yet, Vietnam has locked down several factories in situ. Workers are not allowed to go home and are supplied with workers with food as mass tests are carried out and infected persons taken out.
Testing to trace, rather than testing to diagnose makes it easier to control outbreaks and bring them to zero, observers say and helps avoid or reduce lockdowns of the country or larger regions.
Even with lightening fast testing, which gives results in hours to contact tracers rather than days such as in Sri Lanka, Vietnam is struggling to reign in clusters apparently triggered by the Indian strain. (Colombo/May24/2021)