Has community spread set in again?

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Health officials had detected many Covid-19 patients whose point of infection couldn’t be determined, Deputy Director General of Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath told the media yesterday. However, those numbers were not enough to change the protocols followed by health officials, he said.

Dr. Herath said that all grades in schools had reopened yesterday and it was a great achievement.

“We need to be careful; we need to ensure that the schools remain open. We are still detecting about 700 cases every day and now we are detecting people and the origin of their infections cannot be traced,” he said.

Dr. Herath added that the health authorities expected booster shots to ensure the safety of the people. By yesterday noon 265,383 booster shots had been administered and on Monday morning a fresh stock of 1.53 million Pfizer vaccine doses had arrived in the country, he said.

“These will be used as boosters. People shouldn’t worry about a shortage of booster shots. On the other hand, they should not fall for rumours spread about the Pfizer vaccine,” Dr. Herath said.