The 5th Independent Expert Group Meeting, convened by WHO Sri Lanka, has said Sri Lanka will be able to avert about 18,000 deaths by Jan 2022 only if the level of stringency is immediately increased similar to May 2021, for four weeks. Provide care and protect the health workers and augment staffing in hospitals to minimize disruption of essential health services. Accurate reporting of both cases and deaths to get a better picture of the ground situation. The trends given below indicate that Sri Lanka could soon face a health crisis of unprecedented proportions. “Significant number of health workers are getting infected with a consequent pressure for curtailment and closure of services.

Source: The Nation August 14, 2021 00:00 UTC