GMOA: Country paying for folly of not conveying gravity of finding UK variant prior to New Year

By Rathindra Kuruwita

It was a grave mistake that the public had not been made aware of the danger of the UK variant of Covid-19 detected in Sri Lanka on 08 April 2021, the President of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya said yesterday.

The GMOA President said that Dr. Chandima Jeewandara, the Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, had told the media, on 08 April, that there was a new variant spreading in the country.

“The danger of this was not conveyed to the public. No restrictions were imposed and this is one of the main reasons why we are facing this situation today.”

PCR testing had also been reduced in the run-up to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and that had given the people a false sense of safety, Dr. Padeniya said.

“If the people had been informed of the gravity of the situation, they would have behaved more cautiously. Since people now understand the dangers, they are being more careful,” he said.

Dr. Chandima Jeewandara said that out of all variants of concern, Sri Lanka had all except the Brazilian one.

“The UK variant is the most dominant now. When the UK variant enters a country this kind of spike is common.

We have to work hard to bring the situation under control,” Dr. Jeewandara said.