Sri Lankan President Gotabaya calls for an increase in number of PCR tests to detect COVID

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 gap of over two months.

Chairing a meeting of COVID task force in Colombo on Tuesday 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 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 chief epidemiologist of the health ministry has warned that there is a significant risk of community spread.