Sri Lanka registers over 750 coronavirus cases, most from Naval facility

Colombo: Of the 548 active coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka, 327 of them were Navy personnel and authorities have also quarantined 1,008 of their relatives, officials said on Tuesday.

The virus has killed eight people with 752 positive cases in the island nation.

Army chief General Shavendra Silva, who heads Sri Lanks's COVID-19 prevention mechanism, on Tuesday said, "There were 33 new positive cases found at midnight (Monday), 31 of them are our gallant sailors who are linked to the Welisara camp. The two others are their contacts."

The COVID-19 infection is suspected to have spread in the Welisara Camp near capital Colombo when officers came in contact with drug addicts infected by the virus during a raid.

The sailors had gone home on leave, spreading the virus further.

Silva said 752 positive cases were reported in the country since its first positive case in mid-March, of which 194 patients had been discharged from hospitals after complete recovery.

The Army chief said 1,008 relatives of Navy sailors are presently in quarantine.

The virus death rose to eight on Monday after a 72-year-old woman in northwestern Kurunegala region died of the disease.

The woman was related to one of the infected sailors.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday spoke at an online summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a forum of around 120 developing countries.

Gotabaya said of all the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests only 3 per cent gave positive results and that the virus' mortality rate in Sri Lanka was less than 1 per cent.

The president said he intends to ease restriction to revive economic activities while enforcing health guidelines.

The coronavirus, which first surfaced in China's Wuhan city in November last, has claimed over 250,000 lives and infected 3.5 million people across the world.