Sri Lanka spends over Rs. 70 billion for COVID-19 operations - Prime Minister

Sri Lanka government has so far spent about Rs. 70 billion for tracing contacts, quarantine, pilot tests and welfare, the Prime Minister and Minister of  Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa said in the parliament at the Second Reading and the Committee Stage Debate on the Appropriation Bill 2020.

Sri Lanka has increased the number of hospital capacity treating the COVID-19 patients to 17 and the number of ICU beds for 600, the Prime Minister said. The capacity for conducting PCR tests has been increased from 7,500 tests to 10,000 tests per day. 

One test costs around Rs. 6,000 and daily expenses for PCR tests have exceeded Rs. 50 million. The government bears a heavy cost for food and welfare of the persons who undergo a 14-day quarantine.

The government also bears the costs of Rs. 5,000 allowance paid to the people who lost livelihood due to lockdowns and the expenses of the public officials who engage in COVID-19 related activities, the Prime Minister stated.  

According to Health Promotion bureau statistics, a total number of PCR tests performed in Sri Lanka so far is 627,011. Over 15,000 cases have been reported by now and over 10,000 of them have recovered and discharged from hospitals. 

Sri Lanka quarantined over 100,000 persons including more than 40,000 expatriate Sri Lankans who returned to the island.