Sri Lanka gears up to fight the Corona virus

Colombo (News 1st) - A special meeting is to be held today between health officials on the topic of preventing the Coronavirus from spreading in the country. The meeting will be chaired by Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi. The Ministry of Health says it is now possible to conduct specialized testing in Sri Lanka to successfully ascertain whether an individual has contracted the Coronavirus. Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Director General of Health Services, said that investigations carried out by the Medical Research Institute yesterday proved that Sri Lanka is able to determine conclusively whether or not someone has been infected with the virus. Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued instructions to appoint a National Action Committee to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus in Sri Lanka. The committee is headed by Additional Secretary to the President, Rear Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Health Ministry Secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena, Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe and 12 other members. Senior Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera notes that they would be able to reveal today whether the two Chinese nationals and Sri Lankan admitted to the IDH hospital have contracted the Coronavirus. He added that an Indian national and a Pakistani national who displayed symptoms of fever at the BIA were also transferred to the IDH hospital.