Coronavirus Updates

As of now...

Coronavirus Cases:
158,973,737

Deaths:
3,306,824

Recovered:
136,522,721

As of now...

Coronavirus Cases:
159,602,035

Deaths:
3,317,584

Recovered:
137,265,592

611,096 new cases world wide lower than previous day .

10,586 more deaths higher than previous day .

India (329,517), USA (30,152) & Brazil (29,240) are the three countries with highest no of new cases that drives the new cases.


India (3,879), Brazil (1,018) & Argentina (496) were the countries with highest new deaths for last 24 hours.

As of now...

Coronavirus Cases:
160,334,125

Deaths:
3,331,400

Recovered:
138,098,126

710,122 new cases world wide higher than previous day .

13,444 more deaths higher than previous day .

India (348,499), Brazil (71,018) & USA (34,904) are the three countries with highest no of new cases that drives the new cases.


India (4,200), Brazil (2,275) & USA (743) were the countries with highest new deaths for last 24 hours.

Sri Lanka slaps country-wide travel ban to contain coronavirus surge

The Sri Lankan government has slapped travel restrictions island-wide from 11 pm on Thursday (13 May to 4 am on Monday (17 May) to contain the outbreak of a deadlier variant of the Covid-19 virus.

Transport of essentials including food items will be allowed during this period while the vaccination programme will continue uninterrupted.

“People are permitted to travel within the Western Province only to receive the vaccine,” Army Commander General Shavendra Silva, the Head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) has said.

There is a long waiting list for intensive care and non-Covid-19 patients are dying, the Sri Lanka Medical Association said on Tuesday, warning that the health system faced an imminent breakdown unless action was taken to halt the spread.

The current Coronavirus variant is spreading too fast despite lockdowns of smaller areas.

A team from the SLMA had met President Gotatabaya Rajapaksa on May 10 and asked for district or province-wide lockdowns based on caseloads to bring faster controls of the surge as well as inter-district and inter-provincial movements.

Sri Lanka confirmed 2,624 domestic Coronavirus cases on May 10, after 2,672 total cases were reported a day earlier and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced long-distance travel restrictions till May 30.

There were 2,573 domestic cases. Deaths reported rose to a new high of 26 on May 10, taking the total to 827.

(Colombo, 12 May 2021)

As of now..

Coronavirus Cases:
165,861,584

Deaths:
3,444,997

Recovered:
146,558,903

[size=48]COVID-19 in Sri Lanka reaches tipping point as hospitals fill up and deaths surge[/size]

ECONOMYNEXT – COVID-19 in Sri Lanka is taking a turn for the worse, with two hospitals declaring an internal emergency on Thursday (05) as wards overflowed with patients carrying the disease, amid rising daily deaths around the island.


Images circulating online of patients lining hospital corridors have raised alarm among the public and medical community alike, with some experts calling for renewed movement restrictions though the government has yet to officially respond to such requests, despite a death rate of three per hour according to one estimate.


“A COVID wave is unpredictable. But by following global health practices, we can prevent it,” Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told parliament on Thursday.


The Ratnapura hospital and the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital have both declared emergency situations in their premises due to a surge in COVID-19 admissions, Deputy Director of Health Services Dr Hemantha Herath told reporters Thursday morning.


Hospitals resort to emergency protocol when there is a sudden increase in admissions, Herath said.


“It can be COVID, it can be due to floods or food poisoning, whenever there is a spike in admissions, a hospital can declare emergency. Hospital staff is trained for such situations,” he said.


On July 20, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) warned of a possible fourth wave of the epidemic triggered by the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.


SLMA President Dr Padma Gunaratne told reporters that given the increasing number of patients in the national hospital and other COVID-19 treatment centres, Sri Lanka appears to be losing any gains made during a month-long lockdown in May-June.


Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) Director Dr Ranjith Bathuwanthuduwa said at the time that Sri Lanka was not looking at a new wave.


Related: Doctors and health officials disagree on imminent fourth wave of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka


Nearly two weeks later, hospitals are battling to treat the increasing number of patients, even as experts warn that the delta variant is fast becoming the dominant strain of the virus in Sri Lanka.


Deputy Director General of Medical Services Dr Lal Panapaitiya said hospitals do not have the capacity to withstand the surging caseload.


Panapitiya said nine regular wards at the Colombo National Hospital have been cleared to treat COVID-19 patients, while the Ragama Teaching Hospital has 13 of its wards dedicated for the deadly disease.


In an inspection tour at the Ragama hospital on Wednesday, Minister Wanniarachchi said more wards will be used to meet the growing requirements.


Out of a total 80,000 hospital beds in Sri Lanka, 30,000 are dedicated to COVID-19 treatment, according to health officials.


“If we take up more space for COVID treatment, we’ll have to take from the space allotted for other patients,” Dr Panapitiya said.


The Association of Medical Specialists on Tuesday (03) said there has been an exponential increase in the demand for oxygen.


Related: Revisit restrictions, Sri Lanka medical specialists urge govt as delta, oxygen demand surge


On Thursday, an official at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital told reporters that, due to a lack of oxygen, hospital workers are now making three trips a day to the Anuradhapura hospital to refill their supply for COVID-19 patients in Jaffna.


State Minister Prof Channa Jayasumana said Sri Lanka is using 100% of the oxygen produced in the country for COVID-19 treatment. Plans are under way to import more from India and Singapore in the next two weeks, he said.


Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s opposition parties have accused the government of mishandling the crisis.


Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told parliament on Thursday claimed that the government was attempting to “suppress the truth” with regard to the pandemic situation.


United National Party (UNP) MP Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated his oft-repeated call to for the cabinet of ministers to take charge of Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 response.


“We still don’t know about the spread of delta and we have failed to contain it. Until these task forces are there, we parliamentarians can only be observers. People are dying. I request you to appoint a cabinet committee and bring it to parliament. We can manage it,” he said.


Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath too blamed the ongoing spike in cases on the government’s failure to lockdown the country in April and on not purchasing vaccines on time.


Sri Lanka has made considerable progress on the vaccine front. According to official data, 86% of the country’s population over the age of 30 years has received at least one dose of a vaccine, while 18% are fully vaccinated. However, allegations remain that delays in vaccination led to thousands of deaths that would otherwise have been prevented.


SLMA Vice President Dr Manilka Sumanatilleke said though the vaccine rollout has been accelerated, the virus is ahead in terms of spread and is currently winning.


Meanwhile, calls for a lockdown persist.


For SLMA President Dr Gunaratne, it’s a “told-you-so” moment, though,  no doubt one she does not relish.


“We said two weeks ago, that we’ll see an increase in cases. Now we say it will continue for the next two weeks.  The delta variant is spreading rapidly in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts. We have to go for travel restrictions; otherwise we won’t be able to control it,” she said.


SLMA Vice President Dr Manilka Sumanatilleke said the number of patients in the community can be five to ten times higher than the daily identified patients.


“Earlier when we were doing 20,000 plus PCR tests a day, we identified around 2,000 cases. But now we are doing only about 10,000 tests daily and we still find 2,000 plus patients,” Sumanatilleke told reporters. Wednesday saw 2,561 people test positive for COVID-19, the sixth consecutive day for the daily count to surpass 2,000.


“This cannot be an accurate number, because the number of patients out there should be much higher,” he said.


Painting a grim picture, Sumanatilleke said some of the 600 COVID-19 patients being treated at the National Hospital in Colombo are “warded” in the hospital’s hallways.


Dr Herath said the government is periodically assessing the situation.


“If things go out of control, we will go for a lockdown,” he said.


COVID-19 deaths in Sri Lanka have also seen a surge. On Wednesday, 82 deaths were reported, the highest single-day death toll yet.


Dr Sumanatilleke said Sri Lanka now records three COVID-19 deaths per hour.


“The deaths per hour will increase in parallel to the increase in number of patients. That is why we need to decrease the number of patients,” Doctor Hemantha Herath told reporters. (Colombo/Aug 05/2021)

Cholesterol drug cuts coronavirus infection by 70%,

Cholesterol drug cuts coronavirus infection by 70%,


Is it a proven fact?

When black or for that matter white swans descend, TA becomes a bit redundant noh ?

oops wrong thread. sorry aah.

Rajapaksap wrote:Cholesterol drug cuts coronavirus infection by 70%,


Is it a proven fact?

Yes.
(Unlike our own පැණිය & මුට්ටිය).

Biden Declares The COVID Pandemic "Is Over".