Many Covid-19 clusters could emerge unless…

Health expert urge public to follow health guidelines

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Professor of Community Medicine at Rajarata University and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, Prof Suneth Agampodi, has commended the decision to reopen the most underprivileged schools. He says school reopening will help minimise inequity in education due to the pandemic.

Prof. Agampodi said that the government should continue to address the inequities rather than conducting examination.

People needed to follow COVID-19 health guidelines even if they were fully vaccinated, said Prof. Agampodi.

“We have detected infections even among fully vaccinated groups. Vaccination will not reduce disease transmission; it will only decrease disease severity. If people do not take precautions, we will definitely see the emergence of infection clusters again. The death rates would be low, and massive outbreak akin to the ones in Sri Lanka a few months ago was unlikely, he said.

However, if people did not follow the health guidelines, there would be more infections which increase the risk of viral mutation and an emergence of new variants, he said.

“Although the disease severity may be low, we will still see deaths among the elderly people, those with co-morbidities and pregnant women. The people need to realise that they need to follow basic health guidelines such as wearing face masks, physical distancing, and hand washing. If people act responsibly we will be able to enjoy freedom,” he said.