• No mass-scale screenings or checkpoints
• Authorities to continue surveillance, symptomatic tourists to undergo PCR

Despite a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths in China and health experts predicting at least three Covid-19 waves in the country during the winter season, the Sri Lankan health authorities will not make any special preparations to handle Chinese tourists, but would continue with their surveillance and make symptomatic persons undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

Speaking to The Morning, Health Ministry Communication Director and Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath noted on Monday (19) that though there will not be any special arrangements made to handle Chinese tourists, health officials would continue with their surveillance of Covid-19 cases by subjecting symptomatic patients to undergo PCR tests. “Among the Chinese travellers, if they get sick, we will be checking them for Covid-19 as well,” he added.

However, he notified that there will not be any mass scale screenings or checkpoints implemented for this purpose. 

“We are not conducting any kind of mass-scale screening, nor are we maintaining checkpoints at the airports or similar checks. Nowadays, we don’t even look for the vaccination status as this is no longer done anywhere in the world. We assume that everyone is vaccinated. Though it may not be true, we know that when a large proportion of the population is immunised, even though you find one or two not immunised, it is not going to have a great impact. This is how we are going to handle these additional, probable cases of Covid-19 in China,” he added.

Further, he clarified: “From the beginning, even before getting the first case, we had our system of surveillance, as whether they come from China or any other country, patients getting sick are supposed to obtain treatment. Almost everywhere, our doctors are being educated. We do the monitoring and awareness activities throughout the year so that it is applicable not only to Covid-19, but also to any other disease. This is how we detected the first case of Covid-19 just two days after the World Health Organisation declared an emergency.”

Dr. Herath further said that the local situation at present is quite mild, with immunity within the community developed over the past years because of the vaccination along with past infections.

“At present, I won’t say that it is totally controlled, but those with mild symptoms, we occasionally test, and out of them, we get between 10 and 20 cases a day on most occasions, and we might expect a little more because we don’t check each and every one.”

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on 7 December relaxed the Covid-19 restrictions that were in force for inbound travellers. Tourists are not required to produce a vaccination certificate and PCR test on arrival.

The Chinese Government’s abrupt decision to relax stringent Covid-19 measures has raised fears that widespread infections among a largely unvaccinated population could lead to 1-2.1 million deaths. Chinese cities on Tuesday pushed ahead with plans to expand hospital bed capacity and build new clinics amid fears about the virus running wild through the population. Authorities are expanding intensive care units and, with a view to stopping the spread of the disease in hospitals, building fever screening clinics.

After widespread protests against China’s strict zero-Covid policy, officials recently abandoned the strategy on a national basis, moving away from lockdowns and mass testing. Several local governments have taken the step of encouraging people with mild coronavirus infections to go to work.