Omicron already here?

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Deputy Director General of Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath yesterday said that the Omicron COVID variant could already be there in Sri Lanka. Addressing a press conference in Colombo, he said that those with various COVID variants couldn’t be identified without an expensive gene sequencing test.

“Those with different variants don’t come with labels around their necks. We can’t identify each and every variant unless we do a gene sequencing test. Maybe Omicron is already in Sri Lanka. We have done all we can at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA),” he said.

Dr. Herath said that those coming from abroad had to carry a negative PCR report obtained within 72-hours of arriving at the airport. Moreover, only passengers whose PCR tests were negative could get on an airplane, he said.

“Only the fully vaccinated and whose PCR test report is negative can leave the airport. Others will be sent either to a treatment or quarantine centre,” Dr. Herath said.

The Deputy Director General of Health Services added that while they couldn’t subject every tourist to genetic sequencing, however samples of suspected and high-risk individuals would be tested.

Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday. Those would be used as boosters. Already, 727,370 people had been triple jabbed, Dr. Herath said.