Sri Lanka’s death toll from the rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus is fast rising with an average of 32 deaths reported per million by August 13, which is very high for a country with a 21 million population, health experts warned yesterday.
According to doctors in the forefront of the pandemic, while a high number of those who have succumbed to the virus have been above 60 years of age, there was a significant number of victims who were also in their 30’s and 40’s.
The overall death toll as of last night had surpassed over 6,000 while within the past seven days, over 700 deaths have been reported. According to official figures, 77 percent of deaths were of those who were unvaccinated, which had put them at risk to the suspected Delta variant which is presently causing havoc.
• Doctors say this situation is likely to continue for at least two months but if people stop moving, then the situation can be brought under control, giving the muchneeded breathing space to hospitals that are presently overflowing with patients • Doctors will this week begin gene sequencing to identify if there have been any cases of the Delta Plus in SL
Sri Lanka’s death toll is expected to surpass 200 per day in the coming days and weeks, as doctors say only 15 percent of the population are still fully vaccinated.
These percentages are very low and put a significant number of people, above 30 years, at risk of being infected. This is the main reason why President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a meeting with health officials last week, urged authorities to expedite the vaccination programme and finish inoculating all those above the age of 30 as soon as possible.
