News
Covid death toll drops but officials issue ‘abide by guidelines’ call
View(s):The COVID-19 death toll has shown a sharp drop during the week but health authorities have urged the people to adhere to health guidelines and support efforts to curb the spread of the virus after the country was reopened on Friday. The weekly death toll came down from about 1000 several weeks ago to 300 this week with an average of 50 deaths a day compared to 200 a day in the previous weeks.
The daily death toll as announced yesterday was 55 while the total death toll passed the 13,000 mark. This week also saw a significant drop in the number of daily COVID-19 cases with 893 reported on Friday. A total of 518,775 people have been infected with the virus. At present there are 47,726 covid-infected patients receiving treatment at hospitals, treatment centres or in their homes.
Meanwhile according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 11.6 million people have received the first dose of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine while 9.3 million have received the second dose.
Another 1.4 million have received the Covishield vaccine and 1.2 million received the second dose. More than 159,000 have got the first dose of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V while 155,000 have received the second dose.
More than 463,000 have received the first dose of Pfizer vaccine while 291,000 have received the second dose. Of the 797,000 who have received the first dose of Moderna vaccine, 760,000 have been given the second dose.
“About 55 percent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated. People in the over-30 age group have been vaccinated almost one hundred percent. About 48-50 percent of those between 20 anf 30 years have received their first dose and 18 percent of them have got their second dose, according to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. This week the United States donated 800,000 Pfizer BioNTech vaccines through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility.