As the daily number of recovered Covid-19 patients has outnumbered the new positive cases during the past seven days, Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 diagram shows a significant downturn from May 13, the latest data released by the Ministry of Health revealed.
According to data released by the Epidemiology Unit and Health Promotion Bureau, 113 Covid-19 cases have been detected during the past week, while 278 patients have left hospitals after full recovery (as of Sunday (17) morning). By Saturday night 25 more new cases were reported and officials confirmed that 23 cases were from the SL Navy who are already under quarantine. Of the two identified earlier in the day, one is a returnee from India, currently at Kandakadu quarantine centre and the other from the Meeyankulam centre.
As a result, the number of active cases dropped to 413 by Sunday morning, from 524 active cases on May 13.
In Sri Lanka, May 7 was the peak so far, with 583 active cases since the detection of the first local Covid-19 case on March 11.
Sri Lanka has detected 960 Covid-19 cases in more than 41,000 tests conducted up to yesterday and only nine deaths have been reported with nearly 0.94% case fatality rate. A total of 538 Covid-19 patients have recovered since the second week of March while 106 patients are still under surveillance with suspicious symptoms.
Of the 652 Covid-19 patients tested in the past 26 days (from April 22 to 10am Sunday), 557 patients are reported among the Naval personnel and their close contacts, already in quarantine centres.
With the isolation of Bandaranaike Mawatha, Colombo and Suduwella, Ja-ela lifted on Friday at present there are no areas in the country under complete lockdown. Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe said the country has prevented community transmission of the disease and is on a positive health trajectory.
The police curfew was in effect islandwide yesterday till 5 am today (18) while the curfew in Colombo and Gampaha districts will continue until further notice. However, the Government has allowed businesses and offices to continue operations with limited staff.