Sri Lanka’s success on mitigating Coronavirus outbreak a collective effort – Defence Secretary
August 02, 2020Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said Sri Lanka would be the only nation in the world that deployed the intelligence service successfully to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus outbreak.
He said Sri Lanka achieved success in containing the spread of Coronavirus outbreak as a result of bringing the country’s intelligence service, which was one of the most resourceful arms in handling the mammoth task of controlling the spread of the virus, under one umbrella under the Defence Ministry’s purview.
At the book launch ‘ Corona Diary 2020’ written by Milinda Rajapaksa held in Colombo on August 31, the Defence Secretary said the book would be a tribute to all the frontliners who were fighting to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus in the country.
Maj. Gen. Gunaratne said at a time all the developed countries were helpless before the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, Sri Lanka was facing it fearlessly as the government was well geared to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“Sri Lanka can be a role model for other countries on how the deadly virus could be curbed effectively. The entire credit should go to the country’s leadership – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa- who had drawn a comprehensive mechanism to face the challenge far ahead the virus reached us,” he said.
The Defence Secretary said President Rajapaksa had appointed the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to contain the pandemic in the country on January 26 when there were no patients reported in Sri Lanka.
“Not only the healthcare workers but also the tri-forces, the Police, intelligence services and entire government administrative machinery contributed in this effort to save the country from the Coronavirus outbreak,” he said.
Maj.Gen. Gunaratne said if Coronavirus was cited as a ‘race’, the intelligence services in the country led that race to secure the vulnerable suspected communities before the virus hit them.
“With the support of the health authorities and the intelligence services, the government took measures to lock down vulnerable areas and directed all contacts of coronavirus suspects and positives to quarantine centres to control the spread of the virus,” he said.
