26th October 2020 22:00:18 Hours
A specially-summoned National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO)Task Force meeting this afternoon (26) at the Army HQ, co-chaired by Hon Minister of Health, Mrs Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi, Secretary to Ministry of Health, Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Head, NOCPCO, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, acting Director General of Health Services, Dr S. Shridharan, GMOA representatives, Chief Epidemiologist, Deputy Inspector General of Police for Western Province and a few other major stakeholders closely reviewed the effectiveness of the ongoing COVID-19 prevention mechanism and urgent changes needed for strategic approaches as more and more affectees are reported.
Specific instructions given earlier this afternoon (26) by HE the President during the Presidential Task Force meeting on COVID-19 were followed up and necessary implementation of self-quarantining practices were to be adopted from this afternoon onwards in relation to the detection of the first contacts. The meeting unanimously agreed that all health workers and others engaged in prevention mechanisms at all levels be immediately informed of the need to comply with this strategic change as self-quarantining inside their own homes would also minimize the risk of transmitting the virus further.
Imposition of isolation measures at village levels, capacity enhancement in Quarantine Centres, application of new strategic approaches for management, readiness of island-wide hospitals for mass-scale admission in an emergency, minimizing delay of PCR test results, clamping of quarantine curfew at Police division levels and the gamut of related concerns arising out of the resurgence of new clusters, etc were among other aspects that were brought into extensive evaluation.
Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva stressing the urgent need to re-visit all strategic operational mechanisms at all levels in the wake of emergence of new clusters suggested that conduct of PCR tests be expedited and further de-centralized, thereby reducing the time period being consumed for such test results.
Members of Task Force after extensive discussions were of the view that imposition of quarantine curfew at Police divisions on case by case evaluation was the most effective and best result-oriented practice when more and more clusters are detected. bridgemedia | New Releases Nike
