Sri Lanka faces its most aggressive wave of Covid-19 infections at present, and while the entire mechanism is yet again set in motion to flatten the curve, The Sunday Morning spoke with the Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army, and the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva on how the entire operation is set in motion and the challenges the Sri Lanka Army and other stakeholders face head on to ensure the wellbeing of the population. Excerpts of the interview: Following the COVID Lockdown Earlier this year, Authorities were closely monitoring the situation. How did the virus return to society? From the beginning back in March, the authorities have been closely monitoring the situation irrespective of whether the threat had reduced or not; monitoring will continue until such time the entire world is safe from the virus. Even though we had controlled Covid-19 in Sri Lanka, the virus still prevails in the world and the threat has not been evaded. Therefore, we have to understand that until such time a vaccination is invented, a medicine is found, or the people become naturally immune to this virus, the danger will not go away. However, we cannot keep all the borders closed forever. Repatriation is a must for a country like Sri Lanka and we are obliged to bring back our own people who have gone out of the country to earn money for their families in order to have a better life. Also, there was massive pressure from their families, society, and other parties to bring them back soon. The Government took action, while answering to such grievances, to adopt a strategy to prevent and minimise the risk of the virus being transmitted to society from the repatriates. Two organisations were involved in this process. First, the military; the military conducted the initial 14-day strict quarantine process – there is no opportunity to skip or evade the quarantine process at any cost. The second party is the healthcare authorities under whose supervision the next 14-day mandatory home quarantine was conducted. This period was not like in the quarantine centres; they were on their own but under the supervision of the health authorities. We sincerely believe and trust that people who underwent the home quarantine process were disciplined and adhered to the stipulated rules with integrity. However, we cannot rule out the fact that there is an opportunity for one or two persons to take a risk and go out. Did the authorities let their guard down since cases were not reported from society even after the August General elections? Under the great leadership of His Excellency the President, we have a very responsible and dedicated authority in this country that never lowered their guard – they are examples to the authorities of other countries. Without their commitment, the country would have been in a situation similar to most of the countries in the region. The relentless dedication of the authorities brought our country to normalcy within 50 days, whereas the huge economies and developed countries still struggle. However, the general public is also responsible; it is not possible to go behind every citizen in the country and police them. Were there lapses in the repatriation of Sri Lankans and the follow up of individuals after they completed quarantine? Again, this has links to the point that I stressed upon previously. As the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of Covid-19 Outbreak, Chief of Defence Staff, and Commander of the Army, I responsibly say that there was no lapse in the system and we adhered to all the guidelines stipulated by the health authorities and the WHO (World Health Organisation). Were there instances when certain individuals after returning to the country did not follow the mandatory quarantine period? I would say no persons who returned or arrived in Sri Lanka evaded the private (paid) or government (free) quarantine process both run by the tri-forces, with the only exception for diplomatic staff of the foreign embassies – the agreement between the governments was to quarantine them under the respective embassies. With regard to the latest spread of the virus, the PHIs (public health inspectors) have alleged that they were not informed of the repatriations carried out by Brandix. What is your view? It is an allegation with no credibility. There was no separation of Brandix staff or any other staff; everyone who came to Sri Lanka were directed to the quarantine process regardless of the status. If I give the statistics, 168 personnel came on 25 July and underwent the mandatory quarantine process; 82 at The Blue Water Hotel and 86 at Sheraton Hotel. 125 personnel came on 8 August, and underwent the mandatory quarantine process at Koggala Resort. Forty-eight personnel came on 22 September and underwent the mandatory quarantine process at the Sheraton Hotel. The first patient was found on 3 October and the symptoms of other staff were reported to have started on 28 September. We assume the virus had started spreading approximately from 10 to 20 September. At this time, the people who came from Chennai were still in the quarantine centre. Covid-19 cases are now being reported from all parts of the country including Colombo. How will the task force, headed by you, address this issue? We have had deliberate discussions at the NOCPCO regarding this. Our biggest concern is to revert the country back to normalcy without going for a lockdown as earlier. It is very easy to declare a complete lockdown and control the situation and it is very easy for contact tracing as well, and the public sentiment is also towards the lockdown. However, we have suffered enough as a result of complete lockdown. At this juncture, I can give the assurance that there is no need to panic. We still have control over the situation, and “nothing is impossible”. Therefore, we request the people to trust in the mechanism and stick to being personally responsible and adhere to the instructions given by the Government. Will there be a partial lockdown if the cases continue to increase? We have better experience on the consequences of the spread and subsequent restrictions. Daily discussions take place and we assess the threat carefully based on real-time data and impose restrictions if the situation deems such action necessary. However, everything depends on how responsibly the people of this country behave in the next few days. If need be, the restrictions will be carefully imposed so that it minimises the day-to-day life of the people. We will be careful to select the affected area and restrict the minimum possible area, if we happen to opt for imposing quarantine curfew. We request the great people of this country to report to hospital, get a medical opinion, or direct people for testing if you have the slightest doubt that you have been infected or made contact with an infected person. If measures are not taken to control the movement of the public, does the country have the necessary medical infrastructure to care for the increasing number of Covid-19-positive people? There will definitely be measures to control the movement of the public, and it is the responsibility of the public to self-control their own movement. We are very optimistic of the capacity we have. Also, the number of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds are sufficient to care for extreme cases. Also, reports on the last few months say that the need for ICU beds is minimal. We have the capability to convert the existing hospitals to Covid-19 treatment hospitals. Also, we have earmarked an adequate number of hospitals for this purpose. How will the task force draw a balance between controlling the spread of the virus and economic activity? The NOCPCO; under the guidance of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Secretary of Defence Major General Kamal Gunaratne, the Government, and all stakeholders are relentlessly working to keep the country open and the economy running. Our efforts are towards identifying the infected personnel as soon as possible and separating them from the rest so that others can be protected. Real-time information on the affected, exposed, or any other suspicious contact is essential for this endeavour. Therefore, the co-operation of the people is highly expected in this juncture. It is with this intention that we did not close down entire Free Trade Zones (FTZs) and all the other factories in the country. I brought down the factory owners under the BOI (Board of Investment) and other stakeholders and insisted that factories continue to run, provided that the employees of different factories do not mingle outside, in boarding houses, at public places, etc. I directed them to arrange their own accommodation and transport without allowing the employees of different factories to mix. I even offered to arrange temporary accommodation facilities if they needed it, until the situation returns to normal. What measures or adjustments have you made at quarantine centres that are operating under your purview? We have never reduced the standards of the quarantine process. We are ready to undertake any amount (of people) for quarantine with the necessary precautionary measures. As adjustments, we have increased the number of quarantine centres, increased the frequency of disinfection, and changed the staff in a timely manner. In addition, we have one-third of our staff on reserve so that we can continue with the proper quarantine process unhindered at any eventuality. How many quarantine centres have been put up and what is the total number of persons that can be accommodated in these centres? As at 16 October, we have 84 government quarantine centres designated to provide a free-of-charge quarantine process and many adequate private quarantine centres designated for those who are willing to quarantine at private places at their expense. Both types are operated under the tri-forces under my purview. We can quarantine more than 10,000 people at a given time. However, we have the capacity to increase the quarantine facilities substantially should there be any need for that. We have earmarked many possible locations for this purpose. How many hospitals and ICU beds do we have at present to treat Covid-19 patients? We have 14 designated hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients. Rather than playing with numbers, I guarantee the available capacity is enough to cater to the demand. We have the capacity to increase the number of hospitals and capacity to treat the patients. By now, we have enough ICU beds designated for extreme cases of Covid-19. However, one should not be dismayed by the numbers. First, out of all the Covid-19 patients in Sri Lanka, very few required ICU facilities; second, we can convert the ICU facilities designated for other treatments to treat Covid-19 cases should there be any need. I should especially mention that the NOCPCO is not an isolated body. We conduct deliberate discussions considering real-time data with the President, Prime Minister, Health Minister, Secretary of Defence, health authorities, and tri-forces, together with all other the stakeholders, continuously assessing the future possibilities. There are questions over the level of skill and knowhow of the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps. Could you tell us a bit about how the unit put their professional skills to use when managing civilians who are referred to follow the quarantine process? I vehemently and responsibly deny this wrong perception. The doctors in the Army Medical Corps are equally qualified, equally trained, and equally experienced as civil doctors and so are the other medical staff. They have been endowed with the necessary knowledge through continued career progression and training. Military medicine has been designed and developed with the experience of world wars, where the wars, pandemics, and disasters are not new to the curriculum of training. For your information, we have a separate directorate for pandemic situations which was established decades ago. The necessary training for such endeavours had already been given to them before the pandemic struck the country. Last month, the Sri Lanka Army Hospital established a dedicated laboratory facility. Is it only accessible to Army families? We are a self-sufficient force; we have qualified doctors and healthcare staff. Having all these capabilities, we do not need to add a burden to the Government in terms of seeking treatment for the members of the Army and their families at facilities which are meant for the general public. That is why we have declared our own lab facilities. However, should there be any need, we will not hesitate to open it to the public. Moreover, we have designed a Hospital in Kandy, which will be dedicated to the civilians should the need arise. Have you been able to utilise the new innovations that were much talked about in the first few months of the Covid-19 outbreak? That is a narrow quantisation, as it implies that in the beginning, we worked hard and now we don’t. I should remind you that we brought this country to complete normalcy once, and we will continue to do so. Our effort for innovation has been there from the beginning up to now. The Army alone has made many new innovations which are being widely used in the government and private sectors. If I was to name a few main innovations – UV-C disinfection products, indoor air disinfection unit, two types of alternative respiratory machines for ventilation, sodium hypochlorite solution generator, disinfection heat chamber, safe incubation box, pro gap indicator, indoor disinfection robot and outdoor disinfection robot, automatic sanitising chambers, UV-C portable germicidal contrivance for document disinfection, automatic hand cleaners, automatic shoe cleaner, automatic vehicle disinfection chambers, cooling jackets, mobile hand disinfectant units, touch-free handwash systems, etc. Also, the other sister services too have made many innovations which are widely used as you must have seen by now. Do you have a line of communication open with the rest of the world to keep up to date on the constantly evolving nature of the virus? How do you translate these findings to match the Sri Lankan situation? Yes, we have a very reliable system to get the real-time information, and we are linked with many of the countries. We do compare the developing situations in other countries with our situation. However, giving enough consideration to the growth of the virus in other countries, including the countries from which we bring down our own citizens, there is no evidence that the present situation is an overflow effect of the development of the virus elsewhere, despite possibilities. We can’t deny the fact that the spread of the virus around the world has its effects on Sri Lanka, since we cannot have the entry and exit points closed forever and have to interact with the other countries as a nation. However, we have been careful not to import the virus to the general public. How confident are you of successfully combating the latest spread of the virus? I am fully sanguine of our capability, for firstly, we have a great leadership who clearly understands what is bad and what is good for the country; secondly, we have a robust healthcare system which we can rely on; thirdly, we have dedicated authorities and staff that can ardently undertake any challenge; fourthly, we have a disciplined set of citizens who actually need the betterment of the country; and finally, we are an enthusiastic, devoted, and daring force that passionately believes “nothing is impossible”.

Additional questions*

How do you coordinate with various stakeholders to continue this operation to prevent the spread of COVID 19 in Sri Lanka? Working with civil stakeholders was newer a new task to us. As the defenders of this nation and its people at every difficult time we have collaborated with civil authorities, civil administration and even private stakeholders. After foreseeing the national requirement, the NOCPCO was established in March to ensure coordination, collaboration and recalibration of roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders entrusting me to spearhead the venture. Accordingly, The NOCPCO roofed all the stake holders including Tri Forces, Health Authorities, Police, and all other responsible agents including economic and social care authorities in a one platform. This enabled the necessary decision be drawn, argued, scrutinized and agreed upon with all stakeholders in one place. In that we clearly identified each other’s task, responsibility, the mutual support required, the timelines for the tasks to be completed etc. Everyone worked as a one entity with one aim and the military contributed in all occasions stepped in when and required. This was well consolidated by the support and tolerance of the great people of this country. What are the challenges that your team, faced at the beginning of the process? Has there been an improvement in the situation? We embarked in to the battle against the Covid-19 at a situation the virus was novel, the entire world was at stand still and no country had found a concrete solution for the pandemic. Therefore, we had to go for our own strategy and focussed on containment of affected Cases, prevention of further spreading and minimizing the loss of lives.  Even though we dint have problems with stakeholders, when operationalizing the strategy, few practical problems were encountered. The primary challenge was tracing the contacts; the most important aspect of this entire strategy is the contact tracing, because, based on the contact tracing only, the containment, and prevention of further spreading can be effectively achieved.  The military intelligence with the State Intelligence Service ardently shouldered this dauntless task. This affected immensely to contain the virus within 50 days at the initial breakout. The secondary challenge was the isolation of affected personnel to contain the virus was not equally easy in every part of the county. Because, the spatial distribution of the population in some areas in the country, was too congested, so that home-based quarantine was not possible, for which we introduced the novel and unique ‘root ball’ system; may be for the first time in the world. In that, the personnel of close contacts were pull-out as a whole group from congested street, lane or housing complex, and transferred to quarantine centres. Despite the strategies were made to keep people at home, there was a dire need for people to go out, reasons being the food, medicine etc. For this, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established Special Presidential Taskforce on Essential Services that direct, coordinate and monitor the delivery of continuous services of food, medicine, banking and other amenities for the sustainment of community life. There was a need to convey the real proliferation pattern of the virus, necessity of best health practices, personal responsibility, need for law enforcing to the people where the details of the situation were not clear and had been heavily distorted by false information’s through internet etc. In this regard Informing the public of the government strategy, and indoctrinating the necessity of compliance with the instruction issued by authorities was a must need.  We must be thankful for the National and private media for conveying the correct and extract information to and from the public. As per my personal challenges, I have been entrusted to spearhead the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID 19, in addition to the Role of Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army which is a huge responsibility. Therefore, I have responsibilities in three folds. I must mention the immense support and encouragement extended by my beloved wife and children in this gigantic task. Compared to the situation at the beginning, there has been a lot of improvement, better than earlier, our soldiers understand how the spread could happen, what percussions to be taken and how to react etc. Also, the general public of the country know better about the virus than earlier. Our systems and mechanisms are better experiences by now, therefore we are optimistic that the situation can be controlled. At the onset of the pandemic your teams worked around the clock to prepare/ convert/ reconstruct various facilities in to temporary hospitals and quarantine centres to accommodate the growing need for such spaces. Is this operation still going on? We are still ready to work around the clock for the country and the people. We can meet the growing need of hospitals, or quarantine facilities. You might remember, the soldiers gave even their sleeping mattresses for the quarantine facilities at the beginning. We have been continuously working to uplift the healthcare facilities, for mitigating the COVID 19, even today we are working for it. We will be fulfilling the needs of the people even at the expense of our well-being and I guarantee that to the people of this country. How have you ensured the safety of your staff that is involved in this operation and the safety of the other stakeholders that you have to work alongside with? We have our own rules and it is not difficult to impose and carryout healthcare rules in the Army.  Our duty as responsible citizens are to act selflessly to carry out our duty and ensure safety of the civilians. This is common to any other force as well. That is why the Navy cluster also could be controlled without affecting to civilians. We have stuck to the basic health guidelines. We have a systematic, leave, after leave, employment, deployment, and routine conduct systems. Moreover, our competent healthcare staff issue necessary guidelines frequently and the information flow within our members is very sound. Therefore, we can ensure that we will not be a carrier of the virus to any other counterpart. *The following answers furnished by Lt. Gen. Silva were not published on The Sunday Morning due to space constraints.