President, PM Urge Party Leaders to Join Hands in Combating COVID-19

Gagani Weerakoon-Mar 26 2020

With COVID-19 taking nearly 20000 lives across the world, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO warned that the pandemic is accelerating, thus the need to attack the virus.

"It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases and just four days for the third 100,000 cases," he said.

More than 300,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 since the virus was discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

The pandemic has killed more than 19,000 people, mostly in China, Italy and Spain, and is having a massive impact on the global economy as more than 1.5 billion people are told to stay home to contain the spread of the virus.

 "Numbers matter, because they're not just numbers," Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying. "They're people, whose lives and families have been turned upside down. But what matters most is what we do."

"You can't win a football game only by defending. You have to attack as well," he said, noting that asking people to self-isolate is important to buy time, but it's not enough.

"To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics - testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and tracing and quarantining every close contact."

Situation from bad to worse

With the world situation turning from bad to worse, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday (25) called a special Cabinet meeting to decide on special measures.

At the special Cabinet meeting it was decided to continue the security measures which have been imposed islandwide to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic without any interruption until 7 April.

The Cabinet agreed that the ongoing curfew could be lifted and re-imposed sporadically to certain districts while continuing the curfew in the COVID-19 high risk zones which are Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara Districts until further notice.

During the meeting, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had delivered a lengthy description of how the fatal illness had entered the country and the measures that had been taken by the Government to control its spread as well as the quarantine process that is presently in effect for those infected with the Virus.

MR and Party Leaders

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stressed that the Government will seek the support of all leaders of political parties in the former Parliament to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

He took this decision following a discussion with political Party Leaders on 24 March at Temple Trees.

The PM's Office will meet political party leaders personally in the coming days before taking measures to tackle the spread.

Most party leaders expressed satisfaction with measures taken by the Government to bring the present situation under control and had assured their cooperation for future efforts as well.

Among other issues discussed had been implementing a system to provide essential food stocks to the public by personally visiting homes and to allow tea factories to function as normal as well as to permit wholesale traders to operate in spite of the curfew.

At Tuesday's meeting, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was seen engaging in a lengthy discussion.

RW: I thank the Prime Minister for calling this meeting. A number of opinions were raised and exchanged. It seems to me that that Covid-19 is still under control in the South Asian region.
It was in a controlled state in Europe; however, today, many problems have arisen due to the failure to take relevant actions on time in this regard. This issue is not only related to health, but also curfew, rural economy, new laws and convening of Parliament.

We can't deal with all these aspects at once. If we are to deal with health-related matters first, we can take care of every other aspect afterwards. Before dealing with the curfew, we have to deal with health-related matters.

Where are we now? The way I see it, we have reached a certain edge, and are about to move to phase two from the phase one. When it comes to the transmission of this [virus], if there are [infected] people in various areas that we don't know of, the virus could be spread to the community. We have to keep that in mind and consider how we should react.

We have to decide whether we should take actions, which are relevant to the phase two, while the situation is still on the edge of stage one, or we limit the continuation of stage one. We have to contain it there, and push it back. Containment alone is insufficient. If we take the full action required to deal with phase two now, we can, in fact, prevent phase two from coming into existence.

In Europe, there is one country that controls all of these aspects; Germany. They took necessary actions in an early stage. They did tests and today, they have a less number of cases. Their COVID-19 related mortality rate is 10 per cent of that of England.

 If we can reach that level, I'm thinking, curfew needs to be continued for some time. I believe we can discuss and solve issues related to rural economy. Moreover, we should give leave to all unnecessary public employees.

MR: I think we have already given them leave.

RW: I think we will have to continue it for some time. Also, speaking from a medical perspective, testing is important. I suggest that we procure as many testing equipment as possible, because, if we are to maintain rural economy, we will have to perform quick tests where people like fishermen and tea puckers gather.

 If tests prove that the virus exists in some place, we should shut down those places. Also, obtain as many testing equipment and ventilators as possible. If we hold talks with relevant countries, such as China, India and Japan, we will be able to get something. Can't we manufacture ventilators in Sri Lanka?

MR: Necessary steps are being taken by doctors in collaboration with the Engineering Department of the University of Peradeniya, regarding manufacturing ventilators. We have also given money for this purpose.

RW: Get the help of the Tri-forces, other workplaces and the private sector, and give this work to them.

 Let us start there. Ventilators will never be too much for this country. Also, we should procure as many beds as possible; because, we only have 600 beds although we should have average 2,000 beds. We can talk with other countries and obtain drugs. Speaking of face masks, the one Dinesh Gunawardena is wearing right now was made in Sri Lanka.

Tell our factories about this [face masks], or, we can make it at home. It's an income source as well. I don't know whether we can make testing kits the same way. Spain had distributed 600,000 testing kits to control the situation. Can't we add one more building to the IDH? We can use it later also.

MR: You took a lot of time to express your ideas, and I appreciate all parties and ethnicities coming together in a situation like this to fight the Coronavirus regardless of political differences. We are currently devising a plan to work with the Presidential Task Force appointed by the President.
 We hope to give an opportunity to all political leaders to discuss with them. The President has already ordered to distribute a food card, to give a package of food items to low-income families.

Meanwhile, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka said that Sri Lanka would only be able to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic only if all people are willing to fight the scourge together and not as separate entities.

 "As responsible citizens, we have to intervene and find solutions to this crisis in an intelligent manner.

The Government alone cannot tackle the spread of this pandemic. We also as citizens must strive to control its spread effectively and in this regard, civil society groups, political parties and other voluntary organisations can contribute to this drive. Even after a perceived delay, the Government has decided to take measures urgently to control its spread.

It has to be said that in the fight against this pandemic, the public should brace themselves to face up to certain constraints. The people should take care to follow the constant guidance and advice being given to them by the health officers and the relevant institutions.

There is also the likelihood that this island-wide curfew could be extended indefinitely. However, one of the main issues faced by the people would be being unable to gather their daily food stocks or sufficient food stocks.

There is also their inability to obtain vital medicines. Hence, this issue also has to be considered urgently by the public and they need to formulate a system where such food stocks could be obtained smoothly without having to undergo difficulties. By distributing food parcels to houses, some solution could be sought to this problem.

 The SATHOSA should be made use of in this task. The Government also should provide financial assistance to small trade stalls at the village level and a system where essential food items could be purchased from them should be put in place.

 They could implement this system through the Grama Sevaka officers, Samurdhi officers and other Government officials. Those who are engaged in masonry, carpentry and related sectors and their families are feeling the pinch and the Government should look into it urgently. We feel that the entire society has to contribute efficiently if this scourge is to be got rid of from this country".

Relief Package
Earlier in the week, President Rajapaksa announced a series of relief measures to the public.

These relief measures include;

•Deadline for payment of VAT, income tax, driving licence renewal, water/electricity bills below Rs. 15.000 and credit cards below Rs. 50.000 extended till 30 April.

•Grace period of six months for lease payment on three-wheelers.

•Monthly loan arrears from State and private sector workers (non-administrative), suspended till 30 May 2020.

•Repayment of personal loans below Rs. 1 million provided by Banks and other financial institutions suspended for 90 days.

•The March allowance of Rs. 20.000 for those selected under the graduate employment scheme to be deposited to their Bank accounts.

•Agrahara Insurance Funds to be increased two-fold for all health, Police and Civil Defence forces personnel presently engaged in the combat of the COVID-19 pandemic here.

•Activation of a six-month debt moratorium for tourism, garment, small and medium scale businesses by the Central Bank.

•To provide 7 per cent interest rate and maintain it whenever investments are made through Central Bank Treasury Bonds on BOC, Peoples Bank, NSB, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, EPF and ETF.
•Free interest rates for monthly credit cards amounting to Rs. 50.000 to be maintained at 15 per cent and to reduce basic monthly charges by 50 per cent.

•To keep all Banks and financial institutions opened at all times whenever curfew is not in effect.
•Sri Lanka Ports, Customs, and other related institutions should issue necessary food stocks, fertiliser, medicines and fuel to the relevant sectors without any interruption.

•All Samurdhi Banks to issue an interest-free amount of Rs. 10.000 to Samurdhi recipients and Samurdhi cardholders.

•Releasing all SATHOSA outlets and Cooperatives Store outlets from VAT and other regional taxes.
•The ownership certificates should be issued immediately by the Samurdhi Authority to release nutrition packs to small income earners. For such families consisting of elders and small income earners rice, dhal, salt, onions, should be provided weekly through the Food Card.

•A special account has been opened at the BOC on behalf of the President's Fund to provide relief to those involved in tackling the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the health sector, the Forces and Police. Already a sum of Rs. 100 million has been set aside through the President's Fund towards this task. To enable local and overseas donors to contribute to the President's Fund, all tax regulations have been lifted.

•The Government of Sri Lanka has set aside a sum of US$ 5 million for SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund.

President's Secretary, Dr. P. B. Jayasundara has ordered the relevant officers to implement these measures on the instructions of the President.
Meanwhile, a special fund was set up to strengthen mitigation activities to control the spread of COVID-19 and for related social welfare programmes.

The Fund is titled 'COVID - 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund'.
President Rajapaksa has instructed Rs 100 million to be donated from the President's Fund for this purpose.

A special account had been opened at the Corporate Branch of the Bank of Ceylon and the account number is 85737373.

Local as well as foreign donors can make financial contributions to the COVID - 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund. Donations will be exempted from tax and foreign exchange regulations. Deposits could be made through cheques or telegraphic transfers.

The management of the Fund will be entrusted to a highly qualified panel of professionals in the fields of administration, finance and banking sectors. The panel will comprise the IGP, Secretaries to Ministries, the Director General of Health Services, audit and banking experts.

Secretary to the President, Dr Jayasundara hopes that this would be an opportunity for local and foreign companies to make their contributions towards a humanitarian mission.

It is expected that foreign States, international financial organisations and leading conglomerates in Sri Lanka as well as abroad will take a leading role.

Sajith Apologises

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was trolled on social media and was widely criticised last week over a video he shared in which he was seen endorsing a certain medication and stating that it needs to be prescribed to cure Covid-19.

Later he took to his twitter handle to apologise to the public.

"#COVID19 has caused irreparable damage to my motherland, to many other nation-states and to the international community at large.

I have, at all times, striven to provide constructive support and positive contributions to the #coronavirus eradication efforts. In doing so, I was greatly encouraged by the pronouncements of the @US_FDA (US Food and Drugs Authority) that there are positive signs of a medical discovery that would have given hope for millions.

In that context, due to my profound enthusiasm for the eradication programme, if I had made any incorrect or misleading statements regarding this issue, I take this opportunity to profusely apologise to all who may have been impacted by my statement. Let us all unite to mobilise all our energies to eradicate this disease, may the blessings of the Noble Triple Gem be bestowed upon you all."