WEB DESK
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called for an increase in the number of PCR tests to detect COVID cases as fears have emerged of another wave of community cases in the country after a gap of over two months.
Chairing a meeting of COVID task force in Colombo last evening, President said that although day to day life has returned to normalcy, precautionary measures should not be relaxed as the risk of the COVID-19 virus spreading remains high.
He added that the heads of both government and private entities are accountable for adhering to health guidelines in their organizations in wake of the current spike in COVID-19 cases.
His comments came as over 500 fresh cases have been detected over last week from a rehabilitation centre and the chief epidemiologist of the health ministry has warned that there is a significant risk of community spread.
A total of 19 fresh cases were confirmed yesterday including 13 from the rehabilitation centre and their contacts. There are 666 active COVID-19 cases currently among total infections of 2665 so far. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 5th of next month and the election commission is scheduled to meet today to take stock of the emerging situation.