News of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka records the biggest ever daily increase of Covid deaths for the second day in a row, as new cases rise sharply

The daily number of coronavirus deaths has reached 195 the highest since the pandemic began.

The number of new cases rose sharply to 3839, after a fall earlier in the week which inspired optimism that lockdown restrictions may not be required.

The general population is concerned with the higher daily death rate and the Opposition leader said the record daily death toll was appalling” and warned, there will be more to come”.

A community health worker said: These figures are appalling, and of course we think of the suffering that each one of those deaths represents to their families and to their friends. I’ve got to tell you … there will be more to come”. He said that the new variant was now in virtually all parts of Sri Lanka. It’s true that it looks as though the rates of infection in the country overall may now be peaking or flattening but they’re not flattening very fast and it’s clear that we must keep a grip on this. We must maintain discipline, formation, keep observing the lockdown.”

Meanwhile, the president is being criticized for taking a Trump-like approach to the pandemic by sitting in an air-conditioned room surrounded by his so-called virus preventive task force but refuses to go in front of the nation to explain the measure he had been taking to prevent it from spreading. In contrast, while all democratic leaders of the world had been giving daily briefs to the nation on the progress of their effort to reduce mass infection in front of the television cameras.

The worst Covid Management capability

According to the data published by the Worldometers.info website, Sri Lanka reported being the worst Covid Management capability in the world except for a few African countries.

USA Cases reported during the last 7 days 2937 per million population and death in the last 7days 16 per million population.
UK Cases reported during the last 7 days 3068 per million population and death in the last 7days 10 per million population.
Russia Cases reported during the last 7 days 1032 per million population and death in the last 7days 39 per million population.
Cuba Cases reported during the last 7 days 5439 per million population and death in the last 7days 49 per million population.
Vietnam Cases reported during the last 7 days 662 per million population and death in the last 7days 23 per million population.
Sri Lanka Cases reported during the last 7 days 1239 per million population and death in the last 7days 54 per million population

Delta variant is very aggressive. There is no point in considering historical facts. We must consider what is happening today.

In UK daily infection rate is 37314 and the daily death rate is 114, i.e. daily infection rate is 548per million population, and the daily death rate is 1.7 per million population, while in Sri Lanka daily infection rate is 3839 and the daily death rate is 195, i.e. infection is 178per million population, 9.0 death per million population. A five-fold increased daily death rate compared to the United Kingdom.

Why?

In Sri Lanka, the high death rate is due to poor management of Covid patients in government hospitals. Sri Lanka health service does not have an island-wide Corona management protocol. When it comes to the management it is up to the individual doctor’s decision that matters most by selecting the medicine and the life-supporting facilities as he/she wishes.

In the UK and in all other developed countries, the respective National Health service follows an approved specific protocol when treating a Covid patient. For example, they have a list of recommended medicine depending on the severity of the infection and if the patient’s oxygen saturation in the blood goes below 94%, they should immediately transfer the patient to a ward where they can give oxygen. But in Sri Lanka, it is observed frequently that the patients are dying in the corridors of the hospitals due to lack of oxygen. Doctors openly blame the government and the government is leaderless.

However, despite a daily infection rate of 36,572, In the UK there are no covid restrictions anymore because of the high standard of patient care.