UNP concerned over govt.’s delay in tackling fresh corona outbreak

The United National Party (UNP) expressed grave concern over, what it called, the “government’s delayed response in curbing the fresh outbreak of Covid-19 in the country”.

Despite repeated World Health Organization warnings of a pending second wave, the government chose to propagate the idea that the virus has been tackled, without taking adequate steps to protect the citizens of the country from a resurgence, the UNP said in a media statement.

The government failed to enact relevant legislation, which would have benefited the anti-Covid efforts. The lack of proper laws resulted in the breakdown of the prevention methods as was seen Thursday (29) evening when people in Colombo left the city in large numbers ahead of the pending lockdown, the statement noted.

The inability of the government to curb the movement of citizens from the Western Province has now endangered the people of the other Provinces in the country, the statement said.

In April this year, the Leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe and TNA MP, M. A. Sumanthiran drafted a Public Health Emergency Bill which was presented to the government. However, the government failed to act on the matter thereby rendering it ineffective, it continued.

The recent breakdown of a coronavirus mass testing machine will severely impact the government’s efforts to control the spread of the virus, the UNP said.

At present, it takes over five days for the government PCR tests to

return the results. This delay has an impact on both the health and safety of the public as well as the economic activities of the country. The unavailability of a testing machine will only serve to further delay the results of the PCR tests being conducted in the country, it added.

It was the responsibility of the government to have ensured adequate testing facilities around the country to prevent delays. There is also a concern regarding a pending shortage of hospital beds and ventilators. The government must make every effort to increase the capacity in the hospitals to accommodate patients from the second wave, it stressed.

The UNP urged the government to accord full priority to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, and uphold its duty of ensuring the health and safety of the citizens of the country.