Oct 26, Colombo: The National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) has decided to self-quarantine the closest associates of people infected with COVID-19 at home according to a new procedure from today.

Head of the NOCPCO, Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva in a special media statement this evening (26) announced that from today onwards the first contacts of any positive COVID-19 affected would be placed under self-quarantine in their respective homes.

The measures has been taken on the instructions of the President after an analytical report to this effect was approved by him.

Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva said the new procedure will replace the previous method of transporting the associates to quarantine centers.

Although the COVID-19 clusters developed in the Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda areas were quickly identified, the new procedure has been activated due to the increasing number of new patients depending on the severity of the virus.

Accordingly, this new system will be implemented in Mattakkuliya and Summitpura areas of Colombo for the first time from today. The NOCPCO says 165 people in 34 houses are being quarantined.

The Army and the Police have also taken steps to provide security around the houses. As soon as a previous case of an infection was reported, the state intelligence service and the health authorities took aggressive action to identify the relatives and prevent the spread of the disease among them. All clusters since March have been managed accordingly.

Commander of the Army elaborating on the present status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, imposition of quarantine curfew in selected Police divisions, detection of positive cases at different area levels, appealed to the general public to be aware of the dangers of irresponsible behavior while stressing the need to maintain social distancing, wearing of facial masks, etc.

Following is the Army Commander’s Briefing to Media on 26 Oct

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