ECONOMYNEXT – With just 90 minutes to go to a 10-day COVID-19 curfew in Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a televised address to the nation Friday (20) evening asked the citizenry to be prepared to make more sacrifices in the event of an extended lockdown.
“I request everyone in the country to be prepared to make more sacrifices, if the country is to be placed under a lockdown for a longer period of time in the future.
“At this crucial juncture, everyone should take the country forward strategically by acknowledging the gravity of the situation,” an official translation of the president’s speech quoted him as saying.
Rajapaksa called on the public to work together as a team to defeat COVID-19.
Noting that a majority of COVID-19 deaths are of unvaccinated people over the age of 60 with chronic diseases, the president said he has advised health officials to conduct weekly rapid antigen tests of this specific demographic.
Meanwhile, the 10-day lockdown that was announced Friday afternoon came after weeks of toing and froing on the part of the government, with seemingly no heed paid to repeated calls from the medical community and other experts for tightened movement restrictions.
The quarantine curfew now in effect – from 10pm Friday to 4am August 30 – was, according to State Minister Channa Jayasumana, the result of an appeal by Sri Lanka’s Buddhist prelates to shut down the country for one week to contain a rising wave of delta variant-led COVID-19 infections.
The president’s speech was soon followed by the government information department’s daily COVID-19 update which confirmed a record 195 deaths for Thursday, along with 3,839 new infections.
The 17-minute speech, his second address to the nation in less than two months, took a sombre though confident note, in marked contrast to the previous one that, at 69 minutes in length, critics had found defensive and reproachful.
Even as he requested the public to prepare for a longer lockdown if the need arose, much of the speech was focused on highlighting the negative consequences of prolonged closures of the country. There was also no real acknowledgement of the 6,985 lives lost in one of the worst public health crises Sri Lanka has ever faced.
Though the speech was largely free of assigning blame, at one point Rajapaksa did appear to fault the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) for delaying the approval of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, Sri Lanka’s most widely used jab against COVID-19.
An expert committee of the NMRA did not approve Sinopharm for emergency use in Sri Lanka until after the World Health Organisation (WHO) had given its approval on May 07. Two months earlier, four board members of the regulatory authority were fired under controversial circumstances, reportedly after the panel of experts had pointed out that Sinopharm had yet to be approved by the WHO.
In his speech, President Rajapaksa reiterated his commitment to vaccinating Sri Lankans against COVID-19 as the primary solution to containing the raging epidemic. He recalled personal appeals he had made to world leaders to secure consignments of vaccines to inoculate Sri Lanka’s 21 million population.
“All these efforts were made because I wanted to vaccinate all the people of our country. As a result of this effort, the country is now receiving a large number of vaccines that we need monthly,” he said.
Recounting Sri Lanka’s vaccination success story – surging deaths and cases notwithstanding – Rajapaksa said the island nation is among countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world.
“At present, about 98% of the people who are above the age of 30 have been vaccinated while 43% have been given the both doses. By August 31, more than 81% of the population will be able to receive the second dose. By September 10, 100% can receive both the doses,” he said.
Of the total population, according to State Minister Jayasumana, over 55 percent had received at least dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as at Tuesday (17), while over 21 percent had been fully vaccinated.
“With this development, the number of patients and the number of deaths will decrease,” he added.
On the economic front, Rapajaksa said the first wave of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka saw the country’s lowest economic growth since independence as a result of a months-long lockdown.
“Especiall, the apparel sector that brought in a revenue of about USD 5 billion to Sri Lanka was gravely affected. Their orders were stopped. Many lost their jobs. Export earnings fell,” he said.
“Our tourism industry, which generated over USD 4.5 billion and provided a livelihood to over three million people, completely collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost,” he added.
The president said lockdowns imposed in Sri Lanka have adversely affected the construction industry, small and medium enterprises, and some 4.5 million self-employed people and daily wage earners.
“Amidst all these obstacles, we also had the responsibility to keep the people alive. We did not abdicate that responsibility,” he said.
“Each time the country was placed under a lockdown due to COVID-19 risks, we spend around Rs. 30 billion in each round to provide an allowance of Rs. 5,000 to the people who have become helpless without a daily income. The government has borne this cost on a number of occasions,” he added.
Rajapaksa went on to say that in addition to the cost of quarantine centres maintained by the government, each family quarantined in their own homes is provided with a relief package worth Rs 10,000 for two weeks.
“Even under this dire situation, the government has never taken any action to reduce the salaries or curtail the allowances of more than 1.4 million public servants,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s ailing economy is facing an unprecedented crisis in the form a double whammy of disease and a crippling shortage of foreign exchange.
“Though our foreign exchange earnings dropped, we did not default on the government’s loan installments. We had to pay a colossal loan installment of about USD 4 billion a year as a result of the loans obtained by various governments in the past. All these loan installments were settled on time,” he said.
“The country’s economy would be in great crisis if the country was put under another complete lockdown. It is not a situation that this country can bear. A large number of orders have been received by the apparel industry in the export sector. If we are not able to deliver these orders on time, we may lose a large amount of foreign exchange,” he said.
The president further said the government is trying to revitalise tourism, with nearly 200 tourists now entering the country every day.
“If we close down the country, we will have to restart attracting tourists from the very beginning,” he said.
“Moreover, by having to provide relief to the daily income earners, small and medium enterprises and companies once again due to a lockdown, the country’s economy will be gravely affected. The people should understand the impact of a complete lockdown. Today, except for a few countries, most others including economically powerful ones have fully opened up,” he said.
With its small economy, Rajapaksa said, Sri Lanka must take advantage of the gradually recovering global tourism industry.
“We can’t allow the country’s economy to collapse completely by refusing to take required action,” he said.
The president also had a word of caution for parties organising protests.
“It is clear that this is not a time for strike actions and protests. Do not attempt to destabilise the country,” he said.
The month of July saw a wave of protests in Sri Lanka organised by school teachers’ unions and others over a number of issues including salary anomalies and a controversial defence university bill. The government has been quick to blame the ongoing COVID-19 spike on these demonstrations, though critics contend that superspreader events such as indoor weddings which the government had until very recently permitted are just as likely, if not more so, to add to the spread. Police attempts to curb the protests by arresting key individuals also drew much criticism from various corners including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.
Now that a lockdown has been finally declared, following weeks of earnest appeals by the medical community, demands by opposition lawmakers and threats of a forced lockdown issued by trade unions, President Rajapaksa in his speech attempted to highlight the other side of the argument.
“Although the health sector looks at this issue from one angle, as a government we will have to manage the small economy in our country if we are to continue to pay off foreign debts, pay salaries, and provide subsidies without any interruption,” he said. (Colombo/Aug20/2021)