Risk of COVID-19 Transmission Identified; NOT Community Spread

COLOMBO (News 1st): Taking into account the prevailing COVID-19 situation, the Ministry of Health has identified that there is risk of each COVID-19 patient transmitting the virus to another individual in Sri Lanka, a top official said on Thursday (Feb. 10). However, this does not count as 'Community Transmission', Dr. Hemantha Herath, the Deputy Director-General of Health Services emphasized. Whilst referring to the COVID-19 caseload in the country, Dr. Herath observed that there is a pattern, where each positive case has transmitted the disease to another person. "In the event of community transmission, one patient will at least transmit the virus to two individuals; whereas, if there are 700 patients, it could double within few days moving from 1400 to 2800 patients. However, this is not the case in Sri Lanka," Dr. Hemantha Herath elaborated. According to the Deputy Director-General of Health Services, the contact tracing of each and every positive case detected in the country is still ongoing, under the supervision of a doctor. "Each patient is allocated one doctor, where the 1st contacts of the patient are identified and the respective Medical Officer of Health (MOH) is informed on the matter," Dr. Herath noted. This process is followed by the relevant MOH taking the necessary preventive action.