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Covid ‘not deadly’, says Govt. MP S.B. Dissanayake

26 Aug 2021

By Buddhika Samaraweera Claiming that more than 81% of those infected with Covid-19 are cured even without realising that they were infected, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake opined that a sense of fearing for one’s life should not be instilled among the people as Covid-19 is not a deadly disease. Speaking at a media briefing yesterday (26), he alleged that such fears themselves have led to an increase in the number of deaths. “It is not good to create a fear of death regarding Covid-19 in the minds of the people. That fear is a major factor in the increase in deaths. Covid-19 is not a deadly disease to be feared,” he said. Presenting some statistics on patients with Covid-19, he claimed that some people recover without even knowing they were infected with the virus. “About 81% of those infected with Covid-19 are cured without even realising it. Some people don’t even know that they were infected and have already recovered. In addition, about 14% of those infected suffer symptoms like a mild cold, headache, and fever, and subsequently get well, which points to the fact that 95% of those who contract the virus get well.” Speaking further, Dissanayake claimed that only about 5% of Covid-19-infected patients have serious complications, of which about 3% are cured. The death rate in Sri Lanka is still 1.9, while that of the world is 2.3, he also claimed. He also commented on the survey which was, according to him, conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), NPR media network, and Reuters, using data from India, Brazil, the US, and Indonesia, from May, June, and July of this year. “They gathered information about the deaths at a time when the Covid-19 spread was rampant in those countries. In those three months, the highest number of deaths, 1,167,714, was from cancer and the second highest number of deaths, 816,498, was due to smoking. The third highest number, 558,471, was due to alcohol consumption. Suicide was fourth, followed by malaria. The number of deaths due to Covid-19, amounting to 314,687, was in the sixth position,” he claimed. Dissanayake also claimed that in recent times, Australia was placed under lockdown despite a small influx of Covid-19-infected patients, but alleged that for the time being, the Prime Minister of Australia was saying that the lockdown was not the solution. Alleging that the deaths due to Covid-19 still ranked sixth in the world among the causes of death, he opined that Sri Lanka should be opened up without panicking and be taken forward. “Everyone should voluntarily follow medical advice and the health guidelines. This is my personal opinion. We cannot do what the US, Australia, or New Zealand does. Today, we are in a huge foreign exchange (forex) crisis,” he noted. According to the data available in the “Worldometers” website, a total of 214,976,837 Covid-19 infections had been reported as of yesterday while the total number of deaths due to the virus worldwide stood at 4,481,143. According to the data available in the Sri Lanka Epidemiology Unit website, as of 6.30 p.m. yesterday, a total of 411,290 Covid-19 infections had been reported in Sri Lanka while there were 7,948 deaths.  


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