ECONOMYNEXT – With a record 98 COVID-19 deaths reported on Friday (07) and the delta variant spreading “ultrafast” in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s health sector will reach breaking point over the next two weeks if the authorities don’t go for a lockdown, the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) union warned.
PHIs union chairman Upul Rohana told reporters that an unusual increase in COVID-19 cases is seen in every district of the country and hospitals will run out of capacity leading to a collapse of the health service in two weeks’ time if the spread is not contained.
“The ground situation right now is very dangerous and sad,” he said.
“We warned about this a month ago. But neither the public nor the health authorities listened to us,” he added.
Since the pandemic arrived in the island nation in March 2020, PHIs in Sri Lanka have been responsible for conducting PCR tests and contact tracing, a gruelling task to say the least. The PHI union has a membership of 1,793 working across the country.
Rohana said the spread of the virus has accelerated due to ongoing protests around the country, adding that the mortality rate will increase in parallel to the rise in cases.
The government, too, maintains that protests and demonstrations organised by teachers, students and others over a number of issues have contributed to the rapid surge in cases. Others disagree, noting that removing travel restrictions between provinces, permitting indoor gatherings such as weddings, and mandating all government workers to report to work has contributed to the spread.
Whatever the cause, cases are spiking – over 2,500 cases a day over the past few days – and the health sector is struggling to keep up.
Rohana warned that if daily cases reach 3,500, the health service will collapse and patients will be left without treatment.
The PHI union leader complained that his colleagues have also tested positive for the virus.
“Due to the increase in patients, PHIs and Medical Officers of Health (MOH) in areas like Gampaha cannot even direct patients to treatment or quarantine close contacts,” he said.
“Eight PHIs tested positive over the past few days. Two families of PHIs also tested positive,” he added.
Despite surging cases, Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been largely successful, with over 92% of the country’s over-30 population receiving at least one dose of a vaccine.
However, Rohana said the government and the public should not depend entirely on vaccination.
“Only those who have taken both doses can be considered adequately protected from the virus, but most have only received one dose. To have strong protection, you have to wait two weeks after the second dose,” he said.
So far, 23% of the over-30 population has received their second dose.
Even fully vaccinated people can still be infected and, though asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, can still spread the disease, the PHI said.
“We are in this situation because we have depended solely on vaccination,” he added.
Rohana is not optimistic about the coming weeks.
“The health service is on the brink. We urge the authorities to impose strict travel restrictions in order to prevent a collapse,” he said.
Rohana’s is but one of many voices in a chorus of calls for a lockdown. The Sri Lanka Medical Association, the Association of Medical Specialists and others have repeatedly stressed on the need to introduce some travel restrictions in light of the dangers posed by delta. To their dismay, the authorities announced on Friday that there will be no lockdown but some restrictions on weddings and other public gatherings will be imposed.
Meanwhile, the demand for oxygen is going steadily up.
“We are in a dangerous situation. Symptomatic cases are increasing along with patients who need oxygen,” Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Hemantha Herath told the privately owned Hiru TV on Friday (06).
According to State Minister Channa Jayasumana, Sri Lanka is using 100% of the locally produced oxygen on COVID-19 treatment.
Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi told parliament on Thursday (05) that daily oxygen need by the health sector to treat patients in hospitals in the first quarter of 2021 was 44 tons.
“We have 14 divisional oxygen plants in the country which also cater to the growing need of oxygen due to the pandemic,” she said, adding that the government is building 100 wall-mounted oxygen supplier units across all provinces.
Twenty tons of oxygen cylinders and 2,500 oxygen concentrators have also been ordered, the minister said.
Dr Herath, meanwhile, called for public support in handling the epidemic.
“I can’t tell you what kind of a situation the country is going towards to, because it will prevent me from further communicating with the media. Therefore, let’s ask the general public to support us without solely depending on the heath authorities to stop the spread of the virus,” he said.
The fast-spreading delta variant of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is suspected to be behind the current rapid surge in transmissions in the island.
Noting what he called the “ultrafast” spread of the virus in Colombo, Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura Dr Chandima Jeewandara tweeted Thursday evening that over 75% of the cases detected in Colombo in the last week of July were caused by the delta strain.
In comparison, delta had caused less than 20% of infections in the first week of July.
Herath said currently 33,575 beds have been dedicated for COVID-19 patients in 224 treatments centers including hospitals. Of these, 32,316 beds were in use as of Friday (06), while 80 incentive care unit (ICU) patients were also receiving treatment.
Minister Wanniarachchi said 186 ICU beds have been dedicated to COVID treatment.
“We are constantly requesting to go for a lockdown. That is one of the solutions to stop the virus from spreading,” Herath said.
“We are assessing the situation daily and discussing the effects of our decisions, and we take the best decision we can take each day. If we are going for a lockdown it will be decided by higher authorities,” he said some hours before the government announced its decision Friday.
Vice President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association Dr Manilka Sumanatilleke said a lockdown would be the best option to prevent the spread of delta.
“We have seen that in other countries where delta showed a percentage of 20 out of total infections at the early stages, it became the dominant variant in no time,” Sumanatilleke told reporters.
“Now we are facing that situation. To prevent that we have to break the cycle of spreading at least temporarily and the way to do that is imposing restrictions,” he said.
Out of the total of 4,821 COVID-19 deaths in Sri Lanka, 14 are children below the age of 18 as per Minister Pavithra Wanniarachhci.
“So far 19,688 children below 10 years of age have been infected with the virus while 26,143 children between the ages of 10 and 18 have been infected, Wanniarachchi told parliament.
She further said home based treatment for patients without any symptoms will begin from next week.
According to Dr Herath, to be eligible for home based treatments, a patient should be asymptomatic, has the ability to get to a hospital if necessary, and has an environment that facilitates isolation from the rest of the patient’s family.
“They should also have a good telephone connection, and should not have comorbidities. Otherwise we cannot let them stay at home and risk their lives ,” Herath told EconomyNext. (Colombo/Aug07/2021)