Army urges all to act with responsibility during quarantine process

Colombo (News 1st) - The Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, together with members of the Tri services urged the Nation to act with utmost restraint and responsibility as troops and Health Ministry officials are engaged in the national endeavor of arresting any outbreak or transmission of the deadly ‘Covid-19’ virus through the ongoing quarantine process. A statement from the Army said the Tri services, willing to do their best for protection of those expatriates and foreigners arriving here while concurrently taking all possible preventive and precautionary measures for the safety of all Sri Lankans in keeping with guidelines, given by the President, are now fully backing the quarantine process at two Quarantine Centres in Punani and Kandakadu. It adds the centers are manned by the UN-qualified Colonel (Dr) Shaveen Semage, Deputy Director, Preventive Medicine & Mental Health Services of the Colombo Army Hospital, along with a team of 6 Army medical officers. Fully comprehensive of the circumstances that those expatriates had been through due to those ad hoc arrangements, jetlag as well as with their sudden departures, those provisional Quarantine Centres are meant exclusively for their own safety and the protection of family members and the country at large, although those Centres may lack or require standard facilities. Sri Lanka Army says this public health exercise is to be further supplemented with more facilities and extended if the numbers arriving from affected countries are likely to multiply. The Sri Lanka Army added it is pertinent to assert that members of the armed forces, together with quarantine authorities, are fully prepared and geared up to accommodate their concerns, grievances and fulfill all those other needs at the earliest if any requests are made. The Sri Lanka Army at the same time earnestly appeals to those under quarantine and all Sri Lankans to fully support this pivotal national requirement, irrespective of minor shortfalls or lapses in the implementation of the 14-day long quarantine process.