Minister Dr. Pathirana pays tribute to those fighting pandemic with utmost dedication

by Saman Indrajith

Minister of Plantation Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said on Friday (23) that Parliament should commend all those doing their utmost to control the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.

Participating in the adjournment debate on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister said: “It’s the people’s responsibility to adopt a healthy lifestyle while the government, led by the President takes the responsibility of protecting their lives.

“To date, 427,000 PCR tests have been conducted in the country. The number of PCR tests done at hospitals, universities and medical research institutes has gradually increased. It took 95 days for conducting the first 50,000 PCR tests and 34 days for the second round of 50,000 PCR tests and 30 days for the third round of 50,000 PCR tests. Then the number of days to complete the task reduced from 27 days to 25 days to 08 days. At present, 50,000 tests are done within six days.”

Minister Pathirana said that the government had chosen to change the agenda of Parliament to hold the adjournment debate on the Covid-19 as moved by the NPP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Minister Pathirana requested all MPs to carry out a worthy discussion to improve the health of the public.

Minister Pathirana expressed his gratitude to the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health, doctors, nurses, public health inspectors, the Chief of Defence Staff of the COVID-19 eradication taskforce, and all the intelligence officers who were involved in the great operation to curtail the pandemic situation.

“Ours is one of the most successful countries in the world in terms of managing the pandemic situation. We were able to keep the confusions at a minimum level. The death count is also at a very low level, compared to most of the countries that are hit by the pandemic.”