Polonnaruwa At Risk Of Covid -19?

Cluster Could Be Bigger Than Minuwangoda And Peliyagoda

- Prageeth Sampath Karunatilaka

The second wave of COVID -19 has already spread across Sri Lanka. Despite certain claims that it has not yet reached pandemic levels, the discovery of COVID-19 patients from around the country indicates the second wave could very well be spreading among the community. Importantly, new COVID-19 patients found daily are not from quarantine centres, but from society. This has prompted the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) to warn the country that it is on the verge of a community spread.

According to doctors, this second wave is likely to spread fast. Most cases are asymptomatic and show a faster virus growth within the body. Yet, some people still do not consider COVID-19 as deadly, and the risk of a cluster bigger than the Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda clusters emerging is at hand. One district vulnerable to such a cluster is the Polonnaruwa district.

Nearly 200 families in the Polonnaruwa district engage in freshwater fishing. They initially came from Chilaw and the Northern Province, and began freshwater fishing at a time when the local people believed killing fish in tanks was sinful. However, with time, people in Polonnaruwa too took to freshwater fishing.

During the war, fishermen from Chilaw and the North could not engage in their trade. So they started fishing in major tanks in the Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura districts. Some fishermen married women from Polonnaruwa and permanently settled there. They also received voting rights from the district. Others did not settle down permanently, but only engaged in fishing.