ECONOMYNEXT – Parliament saw raucous scenes this morning as before the scheduled debate on the controversial 20th Amendment to the Constitution began the Opposition called on the government to state what it was doing to stem the spread of the Covid 19 virus.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa demanded that the government and the Minister of Health accept that there is a community spread of the virus.
“Are you aware that there is a rapid spread of the disease in the Kuliyapitiya, Dummalasuriya and adjacent areas and that there is a hospital closed in that area and two police stations were closed in Colombo,” he asked.
Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi shot back by saying that the Specialist Doctors and Epidemiologists in Sri Lanka are still not convinced that is community spread. Yesterday the Minister said that they are yet to trace as to how the virus entered the Brandix factory in Minuwangoda.
She said that the government has conducted 50,000 PCR tests and only a small percentage had been found Covid positive.
However, the National People’s Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake stepped in and asked the Speaker to allocate a day for a debate on the Covid crisis and the Speaker agreed to put the proposal to the Party Leaders’ meeting.
(Colombo October 21, 2020)
Reported by Arjuna Ranawana