The daily Covid infections in Sri Lanka which stood at 2000 cases per day has seen a significant drop in the 48 hours ending at 06 am today.
According to the health authorities, 1,517 Covid cases were reported yesterday, while 1200 cases were reported the day before.
Health Services Director- General Dr. Asela Gunawardena said the strike action launched by several trade unions had resulted in a significant drop in the detection of Covid infections.
“The strike had led to a reduction in PCR tests and the detection of patients. PCR tests are done in hospitals, similar to those carried out in the community. Therefore, the number of tests are reduced when health workers engage in strike actions,” he explained.
Nearly 13 health trade unions are currently engaged in the strike action over several demands.
Meanwhile, Senior journalist Shihar Aneez pointed out that the number of PCR tests conducted yesterday (04), which was 9279, is less than 50% of the daily average of 18,674 that was conducted in June.
“#SriLanka‘s daily #PCR tests drops to multi-week lows on July 4 to 9279. The number of daily #covid19 cases has a direct relationship with the number of PCR tests. Lower PCR test means, lower detection, thus lower number of covid19 cases. data source: @HPBSriLanka,” he tweeted.
The lowest number of Covid infections to be detected since the relaxing of the travel restrictions was reported yesterday.
A total of 1517 Covid cases were reported yesterday, which covered cases from all 25 districts in Sri Lanka. (NewsWire)