By shenali Waduge
There is much hullabaloo over the pardoning of Corporal Sunil Ratnayake by President Gotabaya Rajapake. The usual set of culprits are 24x7 preoccupied in carrying out a globally hyped campaign against the decision. Everyone does make mistakes. People are afterall human. There is no 100% perfect entity. No one is not unbiased. Plenty of Judges have given questionable verdicts. Plenty of lawyers have misled the jury. Plenty of witnesses have misled the Court too. In such a scenario we must be able to use our common sense to derive our own conclusions.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
By Garvin Karunaratne
A word of praise is due to our President Gotabhaya, his team and the doctors of the Health Service for the excellent manner they are tackling the Coronavirus Epidemic. Sri Lanka stands far ahead in the manner they are tackling the epidemic. We have so far had six deaths while the UK has some six hundred dead almost daily. Premier Boris Johnson seems lost and I hope he recovers and also regains the necessary strength. President Gotabhaya and his team need no introduction to Sri Lankans. He is the leader... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
In the cities and villages people in Sri Lanka have lived harmoniously helping each other and enjoying good times and share the sorrow I have sadly noted that our neighbors do not even talk to each other let alone distancing physically People have become selfish like in the Western countries where they do not even know who your Neighbour is When a bread van, grocery van or vegetable van comes some people do not call their neighbors and share the information I am afraid that we will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B.,Ph.D.
හෙළ ජාතික අභිමානේ වැඩු විරුවන් සේ පොරණේ දිනු මව්බිම සව්සිරියෙන් සරසව් පිබිදෙව් පිබිදෙව් සැරසෙව්…// වීර විකුම් පෑ පෙර දරුවෝ, දෙස රැස මුර කෙරුවෝ ඒ ලෙය ඇති ඔබ සුරවිරුවෝ - නොමවව් ණයකරුවෝ දැය දියුණට පැද යන නැවියා ගොවියා බිම දෙවියා විපතෙහි සැපතෙහි නොසැලෙයි නොතැවෙයි අටලෝදම හුරු හෙළයා විපතෙහි සැපතෙහි නොසැලෙයි නොතැවෙයි අටලෝදම හුරු හෙළයා හෙළ ජාතික අභිමානේ…/ මුහුදට ඈදෙන මහ ගංඟා - කුඹුරට යලි හරවා ධාන්‍ය වගා කොට සිරිලක මේ - පෙරදිග කෙත කරවා අරපිරිමැස්මට පුරුදු වෙලා බිඳලව් දුක සංකා පැරකුම් යුගයක් නැවතත් අරඹව් නිජ භූමි තලේ ලංකා පැරකුම් යුගයක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Dr sarath obeysekera
A news item today indicates that police headquarters will be issuing curfew passes for employees of companies having 50 or more workers Having bitter experience with area police officers in obtaining a curfew pass for myself as a CEO o export-oriented shipbuilding industry, I have to watch and see how new procedure can help the industry I do not think that law enforcement officers have any idea about the fact that the. Companies who apply for permits and whether they are eligible for the permits When I sent a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
by Asanga Abeyagoonasekera*
“The oldest form of systemic risk, which is that arising from viruses and pandemics” Ian Goldin & Mike Mariathasan, The Butterfly Defect (Princeton 2014) ‘Pain of one nation is the pain of another; as we are all interconnected’ was the opening sentence of my 2015 book ‘Towards a better world order’. We are experiencing this today as the collective pain of humanity. Geopolitics and Interdependence Pandemics have no respect for borders nor individual social status. Pandemics killed world leaders including Pharaoh Ramses V of Egypt, Emperor Marcus Aurelius of Rome,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Centre for Indic Studies
https://youtu.be/wVc59J5AXQ4... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy URO Today
Study co-authored by Indian-American cancer surgeon comes even as clinical trials on the efficacy of BCG vaccine for Covid-19 are underway.San Francisco, California (UroToday.com) Countries that do not have a BCG vaccination policy saw ten times greater incidence of and mortality from Covid-19, compared with those who do, a forthcoming study from medical researchers in the US and UK, which analysed data from 178 countries, has found. BCG, or Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, is a vaccine for tuberculosis and is administered at birth in countries that have historically suffered from the disease, such as India.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Kevin O'Sullivan Environment & Science Editor Courtesy The Irish Times
Study shows countries with vaccination programmes have far fewer cases On Monday, scientists in Melbourne, Australia, started administering BCG vaccine or a placebo to thousands of healthcare workers. More “striking” evidence has emerged that the BCG vaccine given to counter TB may provide protection against Covid-19 and significantly reduce death rates in countries with high levels of vaccination. A study of 178 countries by an Irish medical consultant working with epidemiologists at the University of Texas in Houston shows countries with... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
By Akshat Rathi Courtesy bloomberg.com
Countries with mandatory policies to vaccinate against tuberculosis register fewer coronavirus deaths than countries that don’t have those policies, a new study has found.The preliminary study posted on medRxiv, a site for unpublished medical research, finds a correlation between countries that require citizens to get the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine and those showing fewer number of confirmed cases and deaths from Covid-19. Though only a correlation, clinicians in at least six countries are running trials that involve giving frontline health workers and elderly people the BCG vaccine to see whether it can indeed provide some level of protection against the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged the general public to give utmost support to the government’s efforts to save the country from COVID-19 outbreak. He stated this today (07), delivering a special statement on the situation that prevails in the country. https://youtu.be/i3ttG0MQ6o8 In his address to the nation, the Premier outlined the measures taken by the government to mitigate the pandemic outbreak and appreciated the sacrifices made by health workers, security forces and other public servants who are on the COVID-19 frontline. “In the face of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
A decision has been taken to close the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Center until further notice. The lack of proper hygiene procedures followed by the public who visit the center is the reason behind this decision, according to Chairman of the Economic Center Trade Association Channa Arawwa. He added that there is a risk of the virus spreading due to the large number of people visiting the economic center. The economic center, which had been closed in the past few days, was scheduled to re-open tomorrow.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Two more patients have been confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus earlier this evening (07), said the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry. Seven new patients have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus as of 7 pm today. Accordingly, the confirmed COVID-19 case count in Sri Lanka rises to 185. A total of 147 COVID-19 patients are currently under medical care while 42 patients have recovered from the virus and have been discharged from hospital. Over 255 suspected patients are under observations at selected hospitals while the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
It has been decided that all persons who undergo the quarantine process at quarantine centers will be subjected to a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, said Specialist Physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. He mentioned this speaking at a special live discussion telecasted on TV Derana on overcoming the COVID-19 challenge together. The discussion was joined by Specialist Dr. Amal Harsha De Silva, Deputy Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara, Director of Medical Research Institute of Sri Lanka, Prof. Neelika Malavige, Director of Centre for Dengue Research and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
DIG Ajith Rohana says that spreading misinformation in social media on COVID-19 prevention can lead up to 5-year imprisonment. Speaking to Ada Derana this morning (07), he said cases will be filed against such persons. DIG Rohana also urged any individual showing coronavirus symptoms to inform the nearest police station, health authorities or paramedic ambulance services before getting admitted to a hospital. Providing false information for hospital admission can put medical staff at risk and eventually lead them to self-isolate, he stressed, urging people to adhere to the preventive measures.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/04/20)
Courtesy The Times (UK)
Ministers had hoped tests would pave way for an easing of lockdown restrictions None of the antibody tests ordered by the government is good enough to use, the new testing chief has admitted. John Newton said that tests ordered from China were able to identify immunity accurately only in people who had been severely ill and that Britain was no longer hoping to buy millions of kits off the shelf. Instead government scientists hope to work with companies to improve the performance of antibody tests. Professor... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
By Chandre Dharmawardana.
A number of distinguished medical professionals led by Dr. Ruvaiz Haniffa , Head, Dept. of Family Medicine, University of Colombo, published an appeal (see the Island , 1st April, Daily Mirror and other newspapers) emphasizing the “Need for rapid expansion in testing for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka”. While creating a data base is essential for constructing epidemiological models, another very effective approach uses information-based intervention. Detectives examining social media or gossip learn about Covid-19 contacts, religious gatherings etc., and aggressively follow every lead. Sri Lanka is currently in stage 3A (WHO classification) where... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්
කොරෝනා වසංගත තත්වය තුළ වර්තමාන දේශපාලනය පිළිබඳ ලිට්මස් පරීක්ෂාවක්ද කරන්නට හැකිව තිබේ. රුවන්වැලි මහා සෑය ඉදිරිපස දිව්රුම් දුන් ජනපතිවරයෙකු මෑත කාලීන දේශපාලනයේ දක්නට ලැබීමේ ආශ්වාදයෙන් සිටි මෙරට බහුතර ජනතාව බලාපොරොත්තු කඩ වේ දෝ යන බියකින් පසුවෙති.සිංහල බෞද්ධ චන්ද බහුතරය යනු පරම්පරා ගණණාවක සිට ශක්තිමත් වුණු සිංහල ජාතිකත්වයේ අපේක්ෂාවන්ය. තමන්ගේ ජීවන රටාව නිදහසේ කර ගෙන යෑමට සහ තමන්ගේ ජාතික උරුමය ආරක්ෂා කර ගනිමින් ඒ තුළ අනාගතය උදෙසා ශක්තිමත්ව නැගී සිටීම මේ අපේක්ෂා අභිලාශයන් අතර විය. රට පුරා වසංගතයක තත්වය ඇතිවන කල්හි වැඩි කලබලයක් නොමැතිව මේ බහුතරය නිවාස අඩස්සියට පත් වූහ. ඔවුහු යලි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවන්නට හෝ මැතිවරණයක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Sangkallpa
https://youtu.be/8k70hsk7-uE... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Arundhati Roy: Courtesy Financial Times Life & Arts
The novelist on how coronavirus threatens India — and what the country, and the world, should do next Who can use the term “gone viral” now without shuddering a little? Who can look at anything any more — a door handle, a cardboard carton, a bag of vegetables — without imagining it swarming with those unseeable, undead, unliving blobs dotted with suction pads waiting to fasten themselves on to our lungs? Who can think of kissing a stranger, jumping on to a bus or sending... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
By ASOKA BANDARAGE courtesy Asia Times
Personal stress reduction certainly has merits in a crisis like the current one, but it can also be exploited and misused In Buddhist teaching, mindfulness is inextricably tied to an ethical approach to life that upholds virtuous, non-violent action. Image: iStock Calling the Covid-19 pandemic the worst crisis since World War II, one that may bring a recession with “no parallel in the recent past,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders to understand that “humankind is at stake.” The numbers... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු පුවත්
ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ සිට ඉතාලිය බලා යාත්‍රා කරමින් තිබෙන MSC මැග්නිෆිකා නෞකාවේ සිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකික සූපවේදියා අද මෙරටට ගොඩබැස්සා. ඒ, නාවික හමුදාව හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරිය එක්ව දියත් කළ විශේෂ මෙහෙයුමකින්. අදාළ තරුණයාගේ ඉල්ලීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප ඊයේ හිරු ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශයන් තුළින් බලධාරීන්ගේ අවධානය යොමු කළ අතර එම තරුණයා දින 21 ක නිරෝධායන ක්‍රියාවලියක් සඳහා ගාල්ල, බූස්ස නාවික හමුදා කඳවුර වෙත යොමුකර තිබෙනවා. කොවිඩ් 19 වෛරසය ව්‍යාප්තියත් සමඟ ලොව බොහෝ රටවල් මගී නෞකාවන් තම වරායන් වෙත ඇතුළු කර නොගැනීමට පියවර ගෙන ඇති පසුබිමක ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ සිට ඉතාලිය දක්වා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Four more Covid-19 patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospital, according to the Ministry of Health. This brings the total number of Coronavirus patient who have recovered in the country to 38. https://youtu.be/lDdSWL3ViIU The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Sri Lanka currently stands at 178. 135 of those patients are currently under medical care while over 250 suspected patients are under observation. There have been 05 fatalities due to Coronavirus in the country. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa discussed matters relating to the prevailing situation in the wake of COVID-19 spread with the representatives of Samagi Jana Balawegaya at the Presidential Secretariat today (06). President Rajapaksa elaborated on the measures already taken by the Government to prevent the spread of the lethal virus and the future actions in this regard, stated President’s Media Division. The responsible manner in which the Government acted following the declaration by the World Health Organization about the pandemic was explained by the President. The Government was able... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
The suspect who stabbed a Public Health Inspector (PHI) who was on COVID-19 prevention duty has been produced before the Mawanella Magistrate’s Court today (06). Accordingly, the teenaged suspect has been ordered to be placed at the Consultation Centre of the Boys’ Detention House in Algoda, Dehiowita until the 25th of August. A 16-year old had attacked a PHI attached to the Rambukkana Public Health Office on coronavirus prevention duty at Paththampitiya area in Rambukkana at around 3.00 pm on Saturday (04). The assaulted PHI is currently receiving treatment at... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi says that Sri Lanka’s health sector has always been ahead of the South Asian countries with regard to the coronavirus eradication program. https://youtu.be/blk-Ahdq2zE She added that Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are now being carried out in many hospitals across the island to identify COVID-19 infections. The COVID-19 testing will be further expanded within the coming days, Wanniarachchi added.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
Sri Lanka Police says that 171 individuals have been arrested for violating the curfew within the period of 06 hours ending from 12 noon today (6). Issuing a statement, it said that 86 vehicles were also taken into custody during this period. Accordingly, as of 12 noon today police have arrested a total of 14,966 persons for violating the curfew from across the country while 3,751 vehicles have also been taken into custody. Sri Lanka Police has warned of strict legal action against people caught violating the countrywide curfew. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
A representative consortium of over 60 of Sri Lanka’s leading indigenous medical practitioners was invited to immediately explore possibilities of finding an alternative traditional medicine to cure the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting took place at the invitation of the Health Ministry and Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) at Rajagiriya last afternoon (05), stated Sri Lanka Army. The joint gesture, mooted by the Ayurvedic Medical Council (AMC) at the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine, NOCPCO and General (retd) Daya Ratnayake, former Commander of the Army... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
A woman has been remanded over spreading false information on the coronavirus through social media, stated the Police. Police had made the arrest in Wadduwa yesterday (05), based on an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The arrested suspect had been produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday and was placed in remand custody until April 9. Persons who create fake news on social media, as well as those who share such false information, will also be arrested, said the Police.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/20)
Sri Lanka News
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) today urged the health authorities to speed up the COVID-19 testing of some 42,000 personnel who have been in contact with over 160 patients tested positive for the virus in the country. GMOA member Dr. Naveen De Soyza said it was revealed at a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday that about 42,000 people have been in contact with those tested positive. He said the current pace of testing was not adequate to efficiently counter the spread of the virus. "We have requested the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Aruna lk
මේ වන විට මුලු ලෝකය ම ගිලගනිමින් සිටින මාරාන්තික කොරෝනා වෛරස් තත්ත්වය ඉතා පහසුවෙන් මර්ධනය කළ හැකි දේශීය ඖෂධයක් තමන් සතුව ඇති බව මෙරට ප්‍රධාන රෝහල් 4ක සේවය කරන විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරයකු හා තවත් බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරුන් 3 දෙනකු පවසයි. https://youtu.be/hj3Zq5pCm1Y... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Dilrook Kannangara
The cremation/burial drama seems to be a distraction from the real issue - Tablighi Jamaat. The event held in New Delhi from March 13-15 by this group is the super spreader of the Coronavirus in India. 34 had participated from Sri Lanka too. An Introduction quoted from senior Indian bureaucrat, diplomat and politician K Natwar Singh is given below. He calls on the Indian government to ban the organization. Sri Lanka must also consider banning their affiliated organisations in the island. https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/tablighi-jamaat-banned Quoted Alami Markaz... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island
A veritable caterwaul of protest has erupted from local and international NGO quarters over the presidential pardon extended to a former soldier Sunil Ratnayake, who had been convicted and sentenced to death over an incident, in 2000, when eight Tamil persons including a five-year-old child were killed in Mirusuvil in Jaffna. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, in a statement, that the release of this individual was an affront to the victims who lost their lives in that incident. An Al Jazeera report on this matter explained... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Dr sarath obeysekera
COVID 19 -a virus originated from animals is one of the unproven theories. Powerful countries accuse each other of planting an artificially generated bio virus to destabilize each others’ might economic powers One scientist ( by the way a Sri Lankan) claims that it had arrived on the earth from another planet. I am tempted to express a wild theory about future dangers we may face from invisible rays which are flying around the universe X-ray, gamma-ray, ad other radioactive rays, radar rays blue tooth rays and also the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Courtesy Arab News
DUBAI: For as long as he lived in Qatar, Antony, from Batticaloa in Sri Lanka, led a sort of double life. By day, he was a cleaner at the gleaming offices of Qatar Foundation and Qatar National Convention Center in north Doha.By night, he was a miserable occupant of a cramped room in a derelict building in the Industrial Area, a sprawling expanse of workers’ accommodation, warehouses, vehicle-repair shops and factories, known locally as Sanaya.Looking back, Antony can be excused for believing that it was destiny that brought him back... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Leena Dhankhar Courtesy The Hindustan Times
Four men from Sri Lanka, who had allegedly attended the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month, tested positive for Covid-19, in the Nuh district on Sunday, said officials. Eight people have been confirmed to have Covid-19 from Nuh and seven of them had visited the congregation in Nizamuddin, held mid-March. Virender Yadav, chief medical officer (CMO), Nuh, said: “Two of the patients were found near the Palwal border on March 31while entering Nuh and the other two were traced to Umra village. They were quarantined and their samples... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
By Dr Lal Jayasinghe Consultant in Communicable Disease Control UK (retired) (member Public Health Writers Collective) Courtesy The Island
Phwriters2020
gmail.com So far, we have done very well. Let us not forget this. We were very fortunate that the govt. listened to the right people and took their advice on how to control this epidemic namely the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Department. We are also fortunate in other ways as well. We are an island which means the virus can enter Sri Lanka (legally) only via airports. We are also fortunate in having a good public... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Courtesy The Island
NEW DELHI, April 5: In a major breakthrough, Indian scientists have successfully developed a low-cost, paper-strip test which can detect the new coronavirus within an hour, and costs just INR 500, or LKR 1,250 (US$6.5). This will address India’s urgent need for rapid-testing. The test uses the cutting-edge gene-editing tool- Crispr-Cas9 to target and identify the genomic sequences of the novel coronavirus in the samples of suspected individuals. “We have been working on this tool for around two years. But, in late January, when the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Five COVID-19 infected patients had been identified, bringing the total cases in Sri Lanka to 176, the Ministry of Health said.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Chairman of Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya has urged action to prevent candidates from using relief activity for publicity campaign in the run-up to the election. He mentioned this in a letter directed to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Deshapriya noted that a special programme is essential for the implementation of relief measures to the people. He also urged the Premier to coordinate relief measures solely through governors, ministerial secretaries, chief secretaries, district secretaries, divisional secretaries, local government commissioners and field officers with the assistance of security forces.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/20)
