G.H.S. Fernando, B.A.H.M Gunasena, A.S. Yapa Bandara, D. Dharmagunawardene, Lal Panapitiya
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7356-6257
Abstract
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Wuhan City, China in December 2019, and was named so by the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses. The first case in Sri Lanka was from a Chinese national detected on 27th January 2020 and first case from a local citizen was detected on 11th March 2021. Sri Lanka has since faced three waves of COVID-19 outbreaks. At the time of submission of this Paper, 3396, 92341, 390185 cases were reported in three waves respectively. All positive symptomatic patients had to be treated under the care of trained health care professionals in COVID management centers; around 3000 oxygen dependent patient including 170 in ICUs and 800 in HDUs were managed within government hospitals daily. Asymptomatic and mild asymptomatic patient were treated at ICCs and all other eligible patients were quarantined at their residence under the observation of a medical team. As such, this study seeks to increase the treatment capacity of the Sri Lankan health system and methods to face the increasing demand to serve COVID-19 patients.
Key words: COVID-19, Covid Management, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka