Sri Lanka has large Covid-19 cluster but no community spread: Senior official

There is no community transmission of the coronavirus in Sri Lanka despite the existence of a large cluster, a senior health official said on Monday.
The country’s chief epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera attributed the recent spike in COVID-19 cases since October 4 to two clusters, a clothing export factory in Minuwangoda and the Colombo wholesale fish market in the suburb of Peliyagoda.
“As the World Health Organization (WHO) has defined it, community spread occurs when you find unrelated infections and when they don’t know how they got infected,” Samaraweera said.
All of the cases, which have been identified, have been reported either by Minuwangoda or by the fish market clusters, he said.
There is so far no evidence of community spread and contacts could be traced to establish the origin of the cases, he said.
Nearly 800 fish sellers have been identified as positive cases as Sri Lanka recorded its 17th death from COVID-19 on Monday.
More than 60 police divisions from various parts of the island have been placed under quarantine curfew with restrictions on the movement of the public.
The island has registered more than 8,000 cases to date, nearly half of which have been cured, according to health authorities.
(Only the title and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear reader,
Business Standard has always strived to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that matter to you and have broader political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering has only strengthened our resolve and commitment to these ideals. Even in these difficult times resulting from Covid-19, we remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and cutting edge commentary on relevant current issues.
However, we have a demand.
As we fight the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more so that we can continue to provide you with more quality content. Our subscription model has received an encouraging response from many of you who have subscribed to our online content. More subscriptions to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of providing you with even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practice the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital editor