{"id":117083,"date":"2021-08-13T22:47:35","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T04:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117083"},"modified":"2021-08-13T15:41:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T22:41:46","slug":"current-covid-spike-in-sri-lanka-started-on-25th-of-july-two-weeks-after-start-date-of-teachers-udghoshana-demonstration-evidence-of-cause-of-present-spike-the-opposition-inspired-super-spreade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/13\/current-covid-spike-in-sri-lanka-started-on-25th-of-july-two-weeks-after-start-date-of-teachers-udghoshana-demonstration-evidence-of-cause-of-present-spike-the-opposition-inspired-super-spreade\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Covid Spike In Sri Lanka Started On 25th of July ,Two Weeks After Start Date Of Teachers Udghoshana Demonstration – Evidence of Cause Of Present Spike – “The Opposition Inspired Super Spreader Udghoshana Pokura”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM FRCP\/FRACP<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Dear\nEditor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nam writing in absolute frustration & anger\non watching parliamentarian Mudgibur Rahman blaming the government\nfor the present spike in incidence of Covid in Sri Lanka claiming that it was\nbecause of the delay in securing vaccine because it wasted time chasing\na \u2018Paniya\u2019 without placing orders of vaccines.Nothing is further from the\ntruth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\na start , as the graphs above shows the Aluth Aviruddha pokura started\nrising at the end of April , coinciding with two weeks since lifting travel\nrestrictions for Aluth Avuruddha. By mid May numbers rapidly reduced\ncoinciding wth two to three weeks since starting mass vaccination in the\nwestern province, with the arrival of Sinopharm vaccines in large\nquantities. This trend bottoms out at the end of  July when the trend is\nsuddenly reversed coinciding with two weeks  of the start of the\ndemonstrations, Uthgoshana, first with the SJB against the petrol price\nincreases, Farmers against ban on chemical fertiliser imports and the final\nstraw was the starting of island wide teachers Uthgoshana, on 12th of July. The\n spike starting on 25th July  fit perfectly and is a\ncarbon copy of the super spreader Trump rallies in the US at the end\nof 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mujibur\nalso tries to make out that the calling back of public servants on the 2nd\n of August was the cause of the spike. The spike has already started\nby then and the call back of the public servants was reversed in a day or two,\nbut not the Uthgoshana which are still on going with the overt and covert\nsupport of the political opposition. This is an  Opposition Inspired\nUthgoshana Pokura.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor\nwas the real reason for the delay in securing the required large quantities of\nvaccine, thirty million at least for the the 15 million over 18 years old out\nof the 21 million total, explained properly. SL had placed orders for Astra\nZenicker from India way back in 2020 when they were liberally distributing it\nlabelled  India\u2019s Vaccine Diplomacy\u201d . However, when their numbers\nwent berserk, and India stopped export of vaccine, SL had to\nlook elsewhere. Till end April, SL had low numbers and hence a\nlow priority for  supply for vaccine manufacturers. When\nthe numbers started spiking again at end of April, the situation changed\nand the President has done a wonderful job securing the about 25 million doses\nthat have already arrived , mostly from China , to whom Sri Lanka should\nbe really grateful. This is some thing the opposition politicians\nhave not still brought themselves into acknowledging.Also not acknowledged is\nthat by September SL would be bottling the Chinese vaccines brought here in\nbulk securing further their supply. This is amazing and all credit to\nthose at the driving seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mujibur\nalso tired to blame the government off  going after a Paniya\u201d\nas the cause of the delay in vaccine availability . As explained\nabove the Paniya\u201d had nothing to do with arrival of vaccines . The Paniya\nwas presented in Dec\u201920 . Vaccines were not available then but the\nAstra Zeicker from India had already been ordered and nothing was delayed\nbecause of the Paniya. It was taken when nothing was available to treat or\nfor prevention . No western conventional medicine availability\nwas compromised because of this. It infuriates me to see Sri Lankan\npoliticians being so immoral as to so mislead the public and try to destroy\nthe confidence of the people with Covid control measures of\nthe government  and so their  compliance with these\nmeasures . Shame ! Shame! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nlive in New Zealand, We placed orders for over five million Pfeizer\nvaccines in mid 2020, but have only just secured two million doses as we were\nlow priority  because of our low numbers. Australia also got caught\noff guard . Having depended on the locally produced Astra Zenicker, their\npublic were put off from taking it for under fifty year old females because\nof cerebral thrombosis risk. When they placed orders for Pfeizer in\nlate 2020\/early 2021, they were a late cab off the rank, partly accounting\nfor their Covid troubles now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\na non vaccine manufacturer  Sri Lanka\u2019s success in securing the vaccines\nas they have is a Monumental Achievement<\/strong>, acknowledged by even\nthe WHO but not the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nformer mandateless prime minister, who was only able to secure  one seat for\nthe UNP , for the whole country, totally rejected by the electorate , is up to\nhis usual tricks of misleading the public and doing his dam-nest\n best to under mine the monumentally successful vaccination program\nand now wants to be a part of a  National Committee\u201d , to manage covid,\njust as he tried to secure presidential powers while being only a PM with his\n19th amendment to the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankans\nshould stay the course chartered for them by the government and be a\nteam of 21 million led by the government, and the opposition members  who\nhave even a modicum of patriotism should join in this team effort\n encouraging the people to do so and not mislead and confuse them.The\nUthgoshana super spreader activity should stop forth w<\/strong>ith and\nthe opposition should see to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nthe government too has to get their act together better &\ncommunicate regularly with the people on their thoughts and strategy\n, with a knowledgable goverment minister explaining these everyday\nand the President or the Prime Minister every week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nNew Zealand, the Prime Minister together with the Director of Health Services\n had   daily press briefings , broadcast live, at  1pm for about\nfive  months from first lockdown in March\u201920 . This was how the team\nof five million was achieved with every body clear of what the\ngovernment plan was and what was expected of them.We all waited for\nthis briefings to learn first hand the govt. plans. When shortfalls were\nidentified ,they were  rectified immediately. After about September \u2019\n20, a dedicated Covid management minister took over the Prime Ministers role in\nthe daily media briefings.  This was how the Covid eradication in NZ was\nachieved and we are managing to remain so. The public have already\nbeen informed of the plan, if the Delta variant arrives, a sharp hopefully\nshort total lockdown to eradicate it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully,\nwe do not have such an unscrupulous opposition as in SL that is prepared\nto sacrifice Sri Lanka and it\u2019s people for political power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri\nLankan government needs to upskill it\u2019s communication  with the\npeople along the above lines ,  to secure their  support and\nprevent them from being mislead by the unscrupulous opposition.\nThe communication has to come from at least a dedicated minister on a\ndaily basis with at least a weekly input from the President or Prime\nMinister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nwould be light and life at the end of the tunnel, if they do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZ
FRCP\/FRACP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM FRCP\/FRACP Dear Editor, I am writing in absolute frustration & anger on watching parliamentarian Mudgibur Rahman blaming the government for the present spike in incidence of Covid in Sri Lanka claiming that it was because of the delay in securing vaccine because it wasted time chasing a \u2018Paniya\u2019 without placing orders of vaccines.Nothing is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}