(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – First Sri Lankan patient infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus in the country has been identified last night (10), the Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe has said.
The 52-year-old patient is a tour guide and he has recently provided services to an Italian tour group, a media release issued by the Presidential Secretariat said.
Dr. Anil Jasinghe has said that the patient has been quarantined at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Angoda and treatment has been commenced.
Chief Epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health Dr. Sudath Samaraweera has told media that the preliminary test conducted on the patient was positive for COVID-19.
Measures have been taken to obtain information on the places visited by the Italian tourists and the people who had come into contact with them.
Earlier a 43-year-old Chinese tourist was found to be infected with the coronavirus upon her arrival and admitted to the IDH reporting the first case in Sri Lanka. The woman fully recovered from the infection and returned to China last month.
