The leader of the United National Party, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the damage to the economy can be repaired but we cannot repair the damage to lives and therefore it is the duty of the government to protect the lives of the people.
He made the remarks while making a special statement on the internet regarding the rising number of deaths and reported cases of the Kovid epidemic.
He further said,
The Kovid epidemic is spreading rapidly in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal. In addition to the Kovid disease in India, a disease called Black Fungals is spreading. We must protect the people of the country from all these diseases. The World Health Organization’s Colombo office has issued a statement following discussions with a number of our medical experts, predicting that the Kovid epidemic will spread rapidly in Sri Lanka in the next few weeks.
We need to keep another point in mind here. That is, there is a shortage of vaccines in our country. It may take some time between next year or the end of this year for all people to be vaccinated. Until then the people of the country should be protected. Therefore, it is the duty of the government to take further steps in accordance with medical advice. If the doctors ask us to close the country, we have to do the same.
After that we can take weekly reports and check the progress of the Covid epidemic. I don’t know if there are other options besides that. The continued spread of the Covid epidemic is a fatal blow to the already weak economy. Therefore, it is necessary to stop the spread of existing diseases. If we do that we can minimize the economic damage.
The duty of the government is to protect the lives of the people. I urge you to save lives by making it objective.
Ranil Wickremesinghe had issued a special statement last week as well.