An earnest plea has gone out from State Minister for Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention, Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle to donors for financial contributions to fight the Coronavirus and make the country free of the pandemic before long. Not just in cash, the State Minister also welcomed donations of materials and other resources to facilitate the battle waged to see the contagion through. The Minister’s plea, it is hoped, would strike a responsive chord in the hearts of individuals with wealth and means to loosen their purse strings to be of help in whatever form to meet the extremely grueling challenge before us.
One recalls at the initial stages of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in this country, beginning with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, many MPs donated their salaries to a COVID fund launched at the time to deal with the emergency. At the time the pandemic was in its nascent stage and few would have thought it possible for the country to be plunged into the state it is in today vis-a-vis the virus. The number of cases at the beginning of the outbreak barely exceeded 100 a day.
However the number of positive cases at present was touching the 2,500 mark for eight days running and the deaths are closing up to the 1,000 mark. It is a desperate battle being waged to pull back the situation, and all resources at our command should be mustered to at least contain the spread of the contagion. True, provisions may have been made from the last Budget for dealing with the emerging health emergency but it is also true that in October last year COVID-19 was under control to a great extent and whatever financial resources earmarked in the Budget would have been in keeping with the needs at that particular time and not tailored to meet the enormity of the challenge now before the country.
True, Ministers are expressing confidence that the Government has all the financial resources to confront the challenge. But it is also true that with the numbers escalating each day and the new demands imposed on medical staff, the financial resources are not going to be limitless. If we are to tackle the pandemic with any degree of success, relying on the munificence of developed countries and agencies such as the WHO for gifting us vaccines won’t do. To acquire herd immunity we have to vaccinate at least 65 to 70 percent of the population. But the vaccines are only trickling in and ambiguity has also been created as to efficacy of ‘mixed vaccines’ with State Minister Fernandopulle asserting that the method would not be tried on the public until the green light is given with absolute certainty by medical authorities.
Still, the vaccination programme is being rolled out with the intention of inoculating as much as possible to prevent the spread, with the next stage slated to shift to Kandy and Ratnapura after the Western Province. With medical opinion asserting that the first jab alone will afford 70 percent protection, it is important that vaccines are acquired without delay to halt the spread of the virus to go hand in hand with the present lockdowns.
The importance of lockdowns and travel restrictions cannot be overemphasized. Although the first jab would give the recipient 70 percent protection, even with the second dosage given, it takes around three months for the antibodies to form in the individual and until such time mass isolation of the community is very vital indeed.
In this respect there are also certain confusing aspects regarding the present travel restrictions.
While the odds and evens dates formula to permit individuals to venture out based on the final digit of the NIC or passport number may appear to be a sound strategy where movement restrictions are concerned, in some cases it does not look practical. In a case where there are only two members in a household and one of them is an invalid or in a feeble state rendering him or her immobile, the other could not venture out on a daily basis to get the household requirements such as food or medicines if the ID card formula is to be strictly enforced. A remedy ought to be found to overcome this situation.
Not everyone has smartphones or other sophisticated means of communications to summon delivery services, not to mention the financial state to afford such luxuries. For them, going to the nearest boutique is the only option. There are also other instances where people have lost their ID cards who too would be restrained causing hardship to their dependents. What about single individuals putting up in some shack or lodging who have to fend for themselves by getting their own food and other requirements and in most cases, they are forced to eat out. They certainly would be hemmed in if the ID rule were to be applied to the letter. Alternative means should be looked at for such cases. However on no account should health guidelines be compromised if we are to beat the pandemic. That ought to be the bottom line.
