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4,500 global corona deaths a month, Sri Lanka assures low risk
View(s):By Kapila Bandara
In more than 20 countries 4,500 more people have died from coronavirus in a month, while the infectious virus has resurfaced claiming dozens of lives in some Southeast Asian cities, which are work, business, and holiday destinations for Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry Secretary Dr Anil Jasinghe has dismissed concerns of risks from the coronavirus disease. Preparations have intensified and all precautions taken, he has pledged. The “overall risk to the public remains low,’’ he has assured.
File pic: During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a health worker collects a sample from a woman for a Covid antigen or PCR test
There are no coronavirus disease surveillance reports or updates, real time or otherwise on the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit website, or social media, for Sri Lankans, including the vulnerable seniors, children, the sick, and the less-abled, to refer to.
Hong Kong and Singapore have recommended vaccinations and made them available.
The World Health Organisation’s latest surveillance report shows 4,500 more deaths from coronavirus compared with 28 days from 9 December 2024 to 5 January 2025.
In the WHO coronavirus update on 17 March covering four weeks to 2 February, deaths have been recorded in 23 countries.
On 17 January, the WHO reported 2,000 “new deaths’’ lower than that compared with the period from 14 October to 10 November 2024.
WHO says it is monitoring eight severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants, including JN.1 variant, and seven variants. The virus can spread from an infected person’s respiratory droplets, when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe.
Coronavirus disease, which can be fatal, and which first emerged five years ago in Wuhan, China, caused mass deaths and economic devastation. More than 760 million were infected across the world and 6.9 million died.
The coronavirus disease is now deemed endemic, appearing in waves and lingering permanently.
In October last year, Sri Lanka got a three-year grant of US$18 million for pandemic preparedness from the Pandemic Fund, a multilateral financing mechanism hosted by World Bank Group.
In South Korea, where thousands of Sri Lankans work as migrants, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported on Monday, that 146 people have been admitted to hospitals for coronavirus disease between 4 May and 10 May, an increase from 115 the week before. Over the past eight weeks between 100 and 200 have been admitted to hospitals.
In Singapore, businesses have rolled out contingency plans, reports say and authorities have made vaccines available and recommended a booster vaccine for those at risk. Singapore recorded 83 deaths linked to coronavirus disease in 2024.
Hong Kong’s latest update on Friday shows severe coronavirus-related deaths over a week (May 11 to May 17), have risen to 27 from 18 the week before. Positive tests were 977 compared with 1,042 in the previous week. There were 17 outbreaks including in primary and secondary schools, care home for seniors, and child care centre.
The weekly report says deaths are initially “assessed to be related to coronavirus’’. Since January 30 2023, the total deaths add up to 1,442.
Hong Kong residents consulting general out-patient clinics and private physicians has increased, health authorities report.
In Thailand, 30 people have died as of May 21. Separately, the Department of Disease Control reported 49,065 new cases from May 11 to 17 and 12,524 new cases from May 18 to 21.
WHO, or Hong Kong has not reported a reproductive number, a measure of transmission, such as Rt, where ‘t’ is the average of new infections caused by an infected human. There is also a basic reproduction number that is used to understand secondary infections, according to scientific journals.
In China, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that positive tests in hospitals have more than doubled in the five weeks to May 4. So far in May, 164 have died, but a WHO dashboard reports zero in the 28 days to May 4. Separate reports say that positive tests in the southern provinces are higher than that in the north.
The WHO dashboard says “no data’’ for Southeast Asia.
In Singapore, health authorities reported on May 13 that infections have increased from 11,100 to 14,200 in the week to May 3. The Ministry of Health, and the Communicable Diseases Agency said people admitted to hospitals also increased, from 102 to 133.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reports that as of May 13, “infections are growing (Hawaii) or likely growing (Nevada) in two states’’, while the virus is declining or likely declining in 30 states, and unchanged in 14 states.
From January 25 to April 25, nearly 21,000 Sri Lankans have visited Singapore, spending an average of four days, data from Singapore show. About 30,000 Sri Lankans are working in South Korea.
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